Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: EC:3.4.22.56 (caspase-3)
 35,750 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Farnesyltransferase inhibitors (FTIs) are currently under investigation for leukemia treatment. We evaluated the FTI manumycin A (manumycin) in two myeloid leukemia cell lines (U937 and HL-60). Manumycin induced nitric oxide production and apoptosis of the leukemia cells. Nitric oxide or other reactive oxygen species may induce oxidative DNA damage, and the number of apurinic sites increased after manumycin treatment, which was reversed by concurrent treatment with N-acetyl-L-cysteine. Since repair of DNA damage is important to cell survival, we hypothesized that methoxyamine, an inhibitor of base-excision repair, would enhance the antineoplastic effect of manumycin. The combination of manumycin and methoxyamine resulted in enhanced apoptosis by six criteria increased annexin V binding, release of mitochondrial cytochrome c into the cytosol, activation of caspase-9, activation of caspase-3, specific cleavage of poly-adenosyl ribose polymerase, and increase in the sub-G1 cell cycle fraction. The drug combination enhanced inhibition on the soft agar clonogenic assay and on the formazan dye cell viability assay. The effects of manumycin or manumycin plus methoxyamine on apoptosis were blocked by N-acetyl-L-cysteine, and partially by nitric oxide synthase inhibitors or scavenger of peroxide. We conclude that methoxyamine enhances manumycin-induced apoptosis in myeloid leukemia cells.
Leukemia 2005 Apr
PMID:Enhancement of manumycin A-induced apoptosis by methoxyamine in myeloid leukemia cells. 1574 47

We have recently reported that ligation of the CD44 cell surface antigen with A3D8 monoclonal antibody (mAb) triggers incomplete differentiation and apoptosis of the acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL)-derived NB4 cells. The present study characterizes the mechanisms underlying the apoptotic effect of A3D8 in NB4 cells. We show that A3D8 induces activation of both initiator caspase-8 and -9 and effector caspase-3 and -7 but only inhibition of caspase-3/7 and caspase-8 reduces A3D8-induced apoptosis. Moreover, A3D8 induces mitochondrial alterations (decrease in mitochondrial membrane potential DeltaPsi m and cytochrome c release), which are reduced by caspase-8 inhibitor, suggesting that caspase-8 is primarily involved in A3D8-induced apoptosis of NB4 cells. However, the apoptotic process is independent of TNF-family death receptor signalling. Interestingly, the general serine protease inhibitor 4-(2-aminoethyl)-benzenesulfonyl fluoride (AEBSF) decreases A3D8-induced apoptosis and when combined with general caspase inhibitor displays an additive effect resulting in complete prevention of apoptosis. These results suggest that both caspase-dependent and serine protease-dependent pathways contribute to A3D8-induced apoptosis. Finally, A3D8 induces apoptosis in all-trans-retinoic acid-resistant NB4-derived cells and in APL primary blasts, characterizing the A3D8 anti-CD44 mAb as a novel class of apoptosis-inducing agent in APL.
Leukemia 2005 Dec
PMID:CD44 ligation induces apoptosis via caspase- and serine protease-dependent pathways in acute promyelocytic leukemia cells. 1620 14

We examined the involvement of sphingosine kinase-1, a critical regulator of the sphingolipid balance, in susceptibility to antineoplastic agents of either sensitive or multidrug-resistant acute myeloid leukemia cells. Contrary to parental HL-60 cells, doxorubicin and etoposide failed to trigger apoptosis in chemoresistant HL-60/Doxo and HL-60NP16 cells overexpressing MRP1 and MDR1, respectively. Chemosensitive HL-60 cells displayed sphingosine kinase-1 inhibition coupled with ceramide generation. In contrast, chemoresistant HL-60/ Doxo and HL-60/VP16 had sustained sphingosine kinase-1 activity and did not produce ceramide during treatment. Enforced expression of sphingosine kinase-1 in chemosensitive HL-60 cells resulted in marked inhibition of apoptosis that was mediated by blockade of mitochondrial cytochrome c efflux hence suggesting a control of apoptosis at the pre-mitochondrial level. Incubation with cell-permeable ceramide of chemoresistant cells led to a sphingosine kinase-1 inhibition and apoptosis both prevented by sphingosine kinase-1 over-expression. Furthermore, F-12509a, a new sphingosine kinase inhibitor, led to ceramide accumulation, decrease in sphingosine 1-phosphate content and caused apoptosis equally in chemosensitive and chemoresistant cell lines that is inhibited by adding sphingosine 1-phosphate or overexpressing sphingosine kinase-1. F-12509a induced classical apoptosis hallmarks namely nuclear fragmentation, caspase-3 cleavage as well as downregulation of antiapoptotic XIAP, and release of cytochrome c and SMAC/Diablo.
Leukemia 2006 Jan
PMID:Overcoming MDR-associated chemoresistance in HL-60 acute myeloid leukemia cells by targeting sphingosine kinase-1. 1628 Oct 67

The effects of the hyperforin (HF), a natural phloroglucinol purified from Hypericum perforatum, were investigated ex vivo on leukemic cells from patients with B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL). HF was found to promote apoptosis of B-CLL cells, as shown by time- and dose-dependent stimulation of phosphatidylserine externalization and DNA fragmentation, by disruption of the mitochondrial transmembrane potential, caspase-3 activation and cleavage of the caspase substrate PARP-1. Moreover, HF-induced downregulation of Bcl-2 and Mcl-1, two antiapoptotic proteins that control mitochondrial permeability. HF also downregulated two proteins which are overexpressed by B-CLL patients' cells, the cell cycle inhibitor p27kip1 through caspase-dependent cleavage into a p23 form, and the nitric oxid (NO) synthase of type 2 (inducible NO synthase). This latter was accompanied by reduction in the production of NO known to be antiapoptotic in B-CLL cells. Preventing effects of the general caspase inhibitor z-VAD-fmk indicated that HF-promoted apoptosis of B-CLL cells was mostly caspase dependent. Furthermore, normal B lymphocytes purified from healthy donors appeared less sensitive to HF-induced apoptosis than B-CLL cells. These results indicate that HF may be of interest in the development of new therapies for B-CLL based on the induction of apoptosis and combination with cell cycle-dependent antitumor drugs.
Leukemia 2006 Mar
PMID:Pro-apoptotic properties of hyperforin in leukemic cells from patients with B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia. 1642 68

AML1-ETO, a leukemia-associated fusion protein generated by the frequently occurred chromosome translocation t(8;21) in acute myeloid leukemia, was shown to exert dichotomous functions in leukemic cells, that is, growth arrest versus differentiation block. By the analysis of oligonucleotide microarray, AML1-ETO was shown to modulate the expressions of an impressive array of pro- and anti-apoptotic genes. Here, we investigate potential effects of the ecdysone inducible AML1-ETO expression on apoptosis of leukemic U937 cell line. We show that AML1-ETO significantly stabilizes death receptor Fas protein and increases proapoptotic Bak in addition to reducing Bcl-2 expression. Accordingly, inducible AML1-ETO expression is followed by apoptosis to a lower degree. Especially, AML1-ETO endows leukemic cells with the susceptibility to anti-Fas agonist antibody, ultraviolet light and camptothecin analog NSC606985-induced apoptosis with increased activation of caspase-3/8. Considering that apoptosis-enhancing effect of AML1-ETO would not be favorable to the leukemogenesis harboring the t(8;21) translocation, it must be overcome to fulfill their leukemogenic potential. Complementary to this prediction is that two AML1-ETO-carrying leukemic cells, Kasumi-1 and SKNO-1, present similar sensitivity to apoptosis induction with AML1-ETO-negative leukemic cells. Therefore, genetic and/or epigenetic screenings of apoptosis-related genes modulated by AML1-ETO deserve to be explored for understanding the mechanisms of AML1-ETO-induced leukemogenesis.
Leukemia 2006 Jun
PMID:Inducible expression of AML1-ETO fusion protein endows leukemic cells with susceptibility to extrinsic and intrinsic apoptosis. 1659 1

Calpain is a class of Ca(2+)-dependent cysteine proteases and has been suggested to be involved in several important signaling cascades. A series of novel aldehyde calpain inhibitors identified in our laboratory were more potent and specific than commercially available calpain inhibitors, and were used to assess the involvement of calpain in cancer. Our inhibitors demonstrated potent anti-proliferative activity in four cancer cell lines (PC-3, HeLa, Jurkat and Daudi) with IC(50)'s ranging from 2 to >30 microM. A non-cancer cell line (CV-1) was 4-7-fold less sensitive than the cancer cell lines. Apoptotic activity was determined and appeared to be inversely correlated to calpain expression levels in the different cell types. Leukemia cell lines (i.e., Daudi and Jurkat) with undetectable m-calpain were more susceptible to the apoptotic effects in response to calpain inhibition, while apoptosis was not detected in PC-3 prostate cancer cells, which highly express m-calpain. The extent of apoptosis in HeLa cells was moderate under identical conditions. Apoptosis induced by calpain inhibition was accompanied by caspase-3 activation. Furthermore, cell cycle analysis showed that aldehyde calpain inhibitors arrested cells at the G2/M boundary in a concentration-dependent manner. These results indicate that aldehyde calpain inhibitors exhibit their cytotoxic effects via induction of G2/M arrest and apoptosis. Importantly, the compounds failed to exert any inhibitory effects toward 20S proteasome. Collectively, our results suggest that calpain is a novel target for the treatment of a variety of cancer diseases and provide leads for further discovery and development of calpain inhibitors.
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PMID:Apoptosis induced by novel aldehyde calpain inhibitors in human tumor cell lines. 1686 82

In order to investigate the inhibition role of anti-Fas hammerhead ribozyme on Fas expression and Fas-mediated apoptosis in CTLL-2 cells (mouse CTL cell line), and to explore a new way for enhancing the ability of T cells against Leukemia in donor lymphocytes infusion, CTLL-2 cells were transfected with pEGFP-RZ596 and pEGFPC1 (mock-transfected) via electroporation. Fas expression on CTLL-2 cells was detected by RT-PCR and Western blot. The killing effect of CTL against WEHI-3 (mouse acute myelomonocytic leukemia cell line) highly expressing FasL in vitro was detected by MTT assay. The caspase-3 proteolytic activity and the apoptosis rate of CTLL-2 cells were detected by means of BD AproAlert Caspase-3 Colorimetric kit and FITC labeled Annexin-V apoptosis detecting kit respectively. The results showed that the anti-Fas ribozyme could be successfully introduced into mouse CTLL-2 cells; Fas expression on the surface of cells transfected with the ribozyme was obviously decreased, in comparison with control and mock-transfected cells; after cocultured with WEHI-3 cells, the viability of CTLL-2 cells transfeced with the ribozyme was significantly increased, as compared with other two groups; caspase-3 activity and apoptosis rate of the ribozyme-transfeced cells were significantly decreased, the killing effect of CTLL-2 transfected with the ribozyme was stronger than that of other groups. It is concluded that anti-Fas ribozyme can remarkably decrease Fas expression on CTLL-2 cells, so as to avoid Fas-mediated apoptosis by Fas ligand on WEHI-3 cells, and to enhance their killing activity against WEHI-3 cells, as a result, the immune escape of acute myelomonocytic leukemia was depressed.
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PMID:[Depressing the immune escape of acute myelomonocytic leukemia via an anti-Fas ribozyme]. 1709 77

In this study, we show that high serum levels of soluble human leukocyte antigens (HLA) class I molecules (sHLA-I, range: 0.7-1.7 micro g/ml) and soluble Fas ligand (FasL, range: 0.4-1.9 ng/ml) are detected in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) at diagnosis, compared with healthy donors (HD) (sHLA-I, range: 0.1-0.6 micro g/ml; sFasL, range: 0.1-0.4 ng/ml). Patients' sera were able to induce transcription and secretion of FasL in CD8(+) T cells, followed by apoptosis in vitro; this apoptosis was inhibited by anti-HLA-I-specific monoclonal antibodies, suggesting that sHLA-I is responsible for cell death. These findings closely relate to the in vivo upregulation of FasL transcription observed in peripheral blood (PB) lymphocytes from AML patients; in the same cells, mRNA for the antiapoptotic proteins Bcl-2 and Bcl-x(L) was downregulated. Interestingly, caspase-8 and caspase-3, both downstream mediators of death receptor-induced apoptosis, were activated in CD8(+) cells of AML patients; one-third of these cells were already apoptotic in vivo, at variance with lymphocytes of HD. These data strongly suggest that in AML, increased levels of sHLA-I molecules may contribute to the elimination of potentially anti-tumor effector cells through a FasL/Fas interaction.
Leukemia 2007 Feb
PMID:In vivo apoptosis of CD8(+) lymphocytes in acute myeloid leukemia patients: involvement of soluble HLA-I and Fas ligand. 1717 Jul 22

Besides its matrix metalloproteinases inhibitory activity, TIMP-1 exhibits other biological activities such as cell survival and proliferation. The intracellular signalling pathway elicited by TIMP-1 begins to be elucidated. We have shown previously that the caspase-3 and the p38alpha MAP kinase were activated during TIMP-1-induced UT-7 cells erythroid differentiation. In this study, we demonstrated that TIMP-1 differentiating effect can be extended to the IL-3-dependent myeloid murine 32D cell line and human erythroid progenitors derived from cord blood CD34(+) cells. By performing small interfering RNA transfection and using chemical inhibitors, we evidenced that caspase-3 was involved in TIMP-1 differentiating effect. We then identified the MEKK1 kinase as a caspase-3 substrate and demonstrated that the MEKK1/MEK6/p38alpha pathway was activated downstream the caspase-3 in TIMP-1-induced hematopoietic differentiation.
Leukemia 2007 Apr
PMID:Tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1 promotes hematopoietic differentiation via caspase-3 upstream the MEKK1/MEK6/p38alpha pathway. 1730 22

Insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) and its receptor (IGF-IR) have been implicated in the pathophysiology of many human cancers, including those of hematopoietic lineage. We investigated the therapeutic potential of the novel IGF-IR tyrosine kinase activity inhibitor, NVP-AEW541, on human acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells. NVP-AEW541 was tested on a HL60 cell subclone, which is dependent on autocrine secretion of IGF-I for survival and drug resistance, as well as primary drug resistant leukemia cells. NVP-AEW541 treatment (24 h) induced dephosphorylation of IGF-IR. NVP-AEW541 also caused Akt dephosphorylation and changes in the expression of key regulatory proteins of the cell cycle. At longer incubation times (48 h), NVP-AEW541-induced apoptotic cell death, as demonstrated by caspase-3 cleavage. Apoptosis was accompanied by decreased expression of anti-apoptotic proteins. NVP-AEW541 enhanced sensitivity of HL60 cells to either cytarabine or etoposide. Moreover, NVP-AEW541 reduced the clonogenic capacity of AML CD34(+) cells cultured in the presence of IGF-I. Chemoresistant AML blasts displayed enhanced IGF-I secretion, and were sensitized to etoposide-induced apoptosis by NVP-AEW541. Our findings indicate that NVP-AEW541 might be a promising therapeutic agent for the treatment of those AML cases characterized by IGF-I autocrine secretion.
Leukemia 2007 May
PMID:The insulin-like growth factor-I receptor kinase inhibitor NVP-AEW541 induces apoptosis in acute myeloid leukemia cells exhibiting autocrine insulin-like growth factor-I secretion. 1736 Dec 25


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