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)

The human leukemia cell line, HL60 is very sensitive to various apoptotic stimuli and p53-null. The death-related cysteine proteases of the caspases family play a central role in the execution phase of apoptosis, and we recently reported the importance of serine protease activation in camptothecin-induced apoptotic endonuclease activation in HL60 cells. In the present study, we investigated the role of caspases (ICE/CED-3-related cysteine proteases) and serine proteases in cell death induced by the topoisomerase I inhibitor, camptothecin, in HL60 cells and in a cell-free system. We found that CPP32 is activated during camptothecin-induced apoptosis, and that N-benzyloxycarbony-Val-Ala-Asp (O-methyl) -fluoromethyketone (Z-VAD-fmk), a cell permeable caspase inhibitor blocks all features of apoptosis: morphological changes, cleavage of caspase 3 (CPP32/Yama/Apopain) and poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase, lamin B degradation and DNA fragmentation. However, Z-VAD-fmk and two other ICE/CED-3 inhibitors, YVAD-CHO and DEVD-CHO, were inactive in a cell-free system reconstituted from nuclei of untreated HL60 cells and cytosol from camptothecin-treated cells, suggesting that caspases are not required for endonuclease activation or lamin B cleavage in the cell-free system. By contrast, the serine protease inhibitors, 3,4-dichloroisocoumarin (DCI) and L-1-chloro-3-(4-tosylamido)-4-phenyl-2-butanone tosyl-L-phenylalanine chloromethyl ketone (TPCK), abolished the apoptosis-associated biochemical changes induced by camptothecin both in whole cells and in a cell-free system. DCI also inhibited CPP32 cleavage. Taken together, these results suggest that in HL60 cells, both CPP32 and serine proteases are activated in camptothecin-induced apoptosis.
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PMID:Camptothecin-induced apoptosis in p53-null human leukemia HL60 cells and their isolated nuclei: effects of the protease inhibitors Z-VAD-fmk and dichloroisocoumarin suggest an involvement of both caspases and serine proteases. 926 76

Fas (APO1/CD95) is a type 1 transmembrane protein critically involved in receptor-mediated apoptosis. Previous studies have shown that Fas exists in monomeric form in resting cells and aggregates upon cross-linking to form a complex that serves to recruit additional signaling molecules to the cell membrane. To study the molecular fate of the Fas antigen following receptor activation, a monoclonal antibody specific for the cell death domain of Fas has been generated. This monoclonal antibody (3D5) could be used in Western blot analysis using total cell lysates to identify different forms of Fas antigens without immunoprecipitation. High molecular mass (>200 kDa), SDS- and beta-mercaptoethanol-resistant Fas aggregates were formed immediately following receptor cross-linking, and a 97-kDa band (p97) was detected about 2 h later. p97 could be detected by antibodies against either the death domain or the C terminus. However, p97 could not be precipitated by antiextracellular domain antibodies. Thus, p97 most likely represents a processed form of the high molecular weight Fas aggregates. Although p97 generation followed a similar time course as CPP32 activation and poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase cleavage, it could not be inhibited by cysteine protease, calpain, or proteasome inhibitors.
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PMID:Activation-induced aggregation and processing of the human Fas antigen. Detection with cytoplasmic domain-specific antibodies. 926 81

Resistance to stress-induced apoptosis was examined in cells in which the expression of hsp70 was either constitutively elevated or inducible by a tetracycline-regulated transactivator. Heat-induced apoptosis was blocked in hsp70-expressing cells, and this was associated with reduced cleavage of the common death substrate protein poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP). Heat-induced cell death was correlated with the activation of the stress-activated protein kinase SAPK/JNK (c-Jun N-terminal kinase). Activation of SAPK/JNK was strongly inhibited in cells in which hsp70 was induced to a high level, indicating that hsp70 is able to block apoptosis by inhibiting signaling events upstream of SAPK/JNK activation. In contrast, SAPK/JNK activation was not inhibited by heat shock in cells with constitutively elevated levels of hsp70. Cells that constitutively overexpress hsp70 resist apoptosis induced by ceramide, a lipid signaling molecule that is generated by apoptosis-inducing treatments and is linked to SAPK/JNK activation. Similar to heat stress, resistance to ceramide-induced apoptosis occurs in spite of strong SAPK/JNK activation. Therefore, hsp70 is also able to inhibit apoptosis at some point downstream of SAPK/JNK activation. Since PARP cleavage is prevented in both cell lines, these results suggest that hsp70 is able to prevent the effector steps of apoptotic cell death. Processing of the CED-3-related protease caspase-3 (CPP32/Yama/apopain) is inhibited in hsp70-expressing cells; however, the activity of the mature enzyme is not affected by hsp70 in vitro. Caspase processing may represent a critical heat-sensitive target leading to cell death that is inhibited by the chaperoning function of hsp70. The inhibition of SAPK/JNK signaling and apoptotic protease effector steps by hsp70 likely contributes to the resistance to stress-induced apoptosis seen in transiently induced thermotolerance.
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PMID:Role of the human heat shock protein hsp70 in protection against stress-induced apoptosis. 927 9

Hematopoietic cytokines transduce cell survival signals, which are distinct from the signals necessary for the stimulation of DNA synthesis. Recently, the Ras and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase pathways have been shown to play important roles in preventing apoptosis in various cell types, e.g. hematopoietic cells and neuronal cells. Withdrawal of cytokine(s), in turn, results in rapid inactivation of these survival pathways and eventually leads to cell death accompanied by the hallmarks of apoptosis. However, the mechanism of cell death caused by cytokine deprivation has not been fully elucidated. In this study, we demonstrate that caspase-3/CPP32, a member of the caspase/interleukin-1beta-converting enzyme family, is activated upon interleukin (IL)-3 deprivation in IL-3-dependent cells as well as IL-2 deprivation in IL-2-dependent cells. In addition, poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase, a cellular substrate for the caspase family proteases, was degraded into apoptotic fragments in both cell lines after cytokine removal. Furthermore, inhibition of a caspase family protease by synthetic peptides suppressed apoptotic death. These results indicate that the activation of a caspase-like protease(s) is required for the progression of apoptosis following cytokine deprivation. However, readdition of IL-3 did not restore the proliferative potential of the cells that survived in the presence of the peptide inhibitor after IL-3 depletion. Therefore, cellular commitment to apoptosis appears to precede the activation of a caspase-like protease(s).
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PMID:Requirement of the caspase-3/CPP32 protease cascade for apoptotic death following cytokine deprivation in hematopoietic cells. 928 12

Proteases that are members of the caspase (or interleukin-1beta converting enzyme (ICE)) protease family have been shown to be important mediators of apoptosis induced by Fas activation, neurotrophic factor withdrawal, and detachment from extracellular matrix. In this report we have investigated the potential importance of caspase proteases in apoptosis induced by multiple chemotherapeutic agents. Human T leukemic cells engineered to overexpress the cowpox virus CrmA protein, a direct and specific inhibitor of caspase proteases, were studied for their resistance to 1-beta-D-arabinofurasosyl-cytosine (Ara-C), etoposide (VP-16), doxorubicin (DOX), and cis-dichlorodiammine platinum (CP). Overexpression of CrmA dramatically inhibited drug-induced activation of caspases, as measured by processing of the inactive precursor form of caspase-3 and cleavage of caspase substrate proteins poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) and lamin B. CrmA also significantly inhibited the kinetics of cell death induced by each of the four drugs. Moreover, when examined several days or weeks after initial exposure to drug, cultures of CrmA-expressing cells were found to have recovered and repopulated, whereas vector-transfected control cells did not. These studies demonstrate that caspase proteases play an important role in conferring sensitivity to multiple chemotherapy drugs, and that constitutive downmodulation of caspase activities can enhance chemoresistance.
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PMID:Inhibition of caspase proteases by CrmA enhances the resistance of human leukemic cells to multiple chemotherapeutic agents. 932 87

Intracellular cysteine proteinases (caspases) play key roles in inflammation and apoptosis. Recombinant caspases are typically produced in Escherichia coli expression systems with the attendant problems of solubilization, re-folding and activation of the protease. Here we describe the expression of hexahistidine-tagged caspase-3 (CPP32/Yama/Apopain) in the methylotropic yeast Pichia pastoris, and the purification of soluble enzyme from yeast lysates using cobalt affinity chromatography. The recombinant protease is fully activated, stable, and cleaves the synthetic substrate DEVD-AFC (Km 16.8 microM) but not YVAD-AFC. It mediates the cleavage of the apoptotic death substrate poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase in cell extracts, but does not cleave pro-interleukin-1beta. It is inhibited by the peptide DEVD-CHO (Ki 2.2 nM), far less efficiently by YVAD-CMK (Ki 0.3 microM), and not detectably by CrmA. By these criteria, recombinant caspase-3 is indistinguishable from native caspase-3 purified from apoptotic cell extracts. Activation of recombinant caspase-3 occurs in yeast in the absence of any intrinsic caspase activity, suggesting that caspase-3 can auto-activate. However, the purified enzyme was incapable of cleaving pro-caspase-3 indicating that autoactivation of caspase-3 in vivo is not likely to occur unless very high concentrations are achieved.
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PMID:Recombinant caspase-3 expressed in Pichia pastoris is fully activated and kinetically indistinguishable from the native enzyme. 932 93

Neurotoxicity induced by overstimulation of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors is due, in part, to a sustained rise in intracellular Ca2+; however, little is known about the ensuing intracellular events that ultimately result in cell death. Here we show that overstimulation of NMDA receptors by relatively low concentrations of glutamate induces apoptosis of cultured cerebellar granule neurons (CGNs) and that CGNs do not require new RNA or protein synthesis. Glutamate-induced apoptosis of CGNs is, however, associated with a concentration- and time-dependent activation of the interleukin 1beta-converting enzyme (ICE)/CED-3-related protease, CPP32/Yama/apopain (now designated caspase 3). Further, the time course of caspase 3 activation after glutamate exposure of CGNs parallels the development of apoptosis. Moreover, glutamate-induced apoptosis of CGNs is almost completely blocked by the selective cell permeable tetrapeptide inhibitor of caspase 3, Ac-DEVD-CHO but not by the ICE (caspase 1) inhibitor, Ac-YVAD-CHO. Western blots of cytosolic extracts from glutamate-exposed CGNs reveal both cleavage of the caspase 3 substrate, poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase, as well as proteolytic processing of pro-caspase 3 to active subunits. Our data demonstrate that glutamate-induced apoptosis of CGNs is mediated by a posttranslational activation of the ICE/CED-3-related cysteine protease caspase 3.
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PMID:Activation of a caspase 3-related cysteine protease is required for glutamate-mediated apoptosis of cultured cerebellar granule neurons. 932 66

Apoptosis is a major form of cell death, characterized initially by a series of stereotypic morphological changes. In the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, the gene ced-3 encodes a protein required for developmental cell death. Since the recognition that CED-3 has sequence identity with the mammalian cysteine protease interleukin-1 beta-converting enzyme (ICE), a family of at least 10 related cysteine proteases has been identified. These proteins are characterized by almost absolute specificity for aspartic acid in the P1 position. All the caspases (ICE-like proteases) contain a conserved QACXG (where X is R, Q or G) pentapeptide active-site motif. Capases are synthesized as inactive proenzymes comprising an N-terminal peptide (prodomain) together with one large and one small subunit. The crystal structures of both caspase-1 and caspase-3 show that the active enzyme is a heterotetramer, containing two small and two large subunits. Activation of caspases during apoptosis results in the cleavage of critical cellular substrates, including poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase and lamins, so precipitating the dramatic morphological changes of apoptosis. Apoptosis induced by CD95 (Fas/APO-1) and tumour necrosis factor activates caspase-8 (MACH/FLICE/Mch5), which contains an N-terminus with FADD (Fas-associating protein with death domain)-like death effector domains, so providing a direct link between cell death receptors and the caspases. The importance of caspase prodomains in the regulation of apoptosis is further highlighted by the recognition of adapter molecules, such as RAIDD [receptor-interacting protein (RIP)-associated ICH-1/CED-3-homologous protein with a death domain]/CRADD (caspase and RIP adapter with death domain), which binds to the prodomain of caspase-2 and recruits it to the signalling complex. Cells undergoing apoptosis following triggering of death receptors execute the death programme by activating a hierarchy of caspases, with caspase-8 and possibly caspase-10 being at or near the apex of this apoptotic cascade.
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PMID:Caspases: the executioners of apoptosis. 933 44

Cysteine proteases of the CED-3 and ICE family have been recently proposed as the ultimate executioners in several mammalian cell death pathways. Among them, the cysteine protease CPP32 has been shown to participate in programmed cell death (PCD), or apoptosis, affecting lymphoid cells in vitro. In the thymus, negative selection is a mechanism through which developing thymocytes expressing a TcR with high affinity for self peptide-MHC complexes are eliminated by PCD. In order to investigate the role of CPP32 in thymic apoptosis, isolated thymocytes were submitted to cell surface CD3 crosslinking by immobilized anti-CD3 mAb or to dexamethasone treatment. Although apoptosis occurred in the absence or after crosslinking with anti-CD3 mAb, specific activation of CPP32, as assessed by the extent of proteolytic cleavage of the p32 zymogen, was only detected in thymocytes cultured in the presence of the immobilized antibody or dexamethasone. This activation was a very early event during apoptosis as it occurred before the exposure of phosphatidyl serine to the upper side of the cell membrane. This was observed both in anti-CD3- and dexamethasone-induced apoptosis. Moreover, using mice transgenic for pigeon cytochrome C (PCC)-specific TcR, we were able to show that, after injection of PCC, the activation of CPP32 and cleavage of its substrate occurred in thymocytes obtained from mice expressing a permissive MHC haplotype for PCC presentation (H-2k). Moreover, PCC induced apoptosis was blocked by the caspase inhibitor zVAD. While spontaneous apoptosis was not accompanied by detectable levels of CPP32 processing, it was characterized by the proteolysis of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) and was blocked by the cysteine protease inhibitor, zVAD-CH2F. Taken together, these results support the concept that CPP32 is among the earliest effectors of the pathway leading to negative selection of autoreactive thymocytes. Our results also suggest the involvement of a distinct CPP32-like cysteine protease in spontaneous apoptosis of thymocytes.
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PMID:Specific activation of the cysteine protease CPP32 during the negative selection of T cells in the thymus. 934 8

Previous studies have shown that K562 chronic myelogenous leukemia cells are resistant to induction of apoptosis by a variety of agents, including the topoisomerase II (topo II) poison etoposide, when examined 4 to 24 hours after treatment with an initiating stimulus. In the present study, the responses of K562 cells and apoptosis-proficient HL-60 acute myelomonocytic leukemia cells to etoposide were compared, with particular emphasis on determining the long-term fate of the cells. When cells were treated with varying concentrations of etoposide for 1 hour and subsequently plated in soft agar, the two cell lines displayed similar sensitivities, with a 90% reduction in colony formation at 5 to 10 mu mol/L etoposide. After treatment with 17 mu mol/L etoposide for 1 hour, cleavage of the caspase substrate poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP), DNA fragmentation, and apoptotic morphological changes were evident in HL-60 cells in less than 6 hours. After the same treatment, K562 cells arrested in G2 phase of the cell cycle but otherwise appeared normal for 3 to 4 days before developing similar apoptotic changes. When the etoposide dose was increased to 68 mu mol/L, apoptotic changes were evident in HL-60 cells after 2 to 3 hours, whereas the same changes were observed in K562 cells after 24 to 48 hours. This delay in the development of apoptotic changes in K562 cells was accompanied by delayed release of cytochrome c to the cytosol and delayed appearance of peptidase activity that cleaved the fluorogenic substrates Asp-Glu-Val-Asp-aminotrifluoromethylcoumarin (DEVD-AFC) and Val-Glu-Ile-Asp-aminomethylcoumarin (VEID-AMC) as well as an altered spectrum of active caspases that were affinity labeled with N-(Nalpha-benzyloxycarbonylglutamyl-Nepsilon-biotin yllysyl) aspartic acid [(2,6-dimethylbenzoyl)oxy]methyl ketone [z-EK(bio)D-aomk]. On the other hand, the activation of caspase-3 under cell-free conditions occurred with indistinguishable kinetics in cytosol prepared from the two cell lines. Collectively, these results suggest that a delay in the signaling cascade upstream of cytochrome c release and caspase activation leads to a long latent period before the active phase of apoptosis is initiated in etoposide-treated K562 cells. Once the active phase of apoptosis is initiated, the spectrum and subcellular distribution of active caspase species differ between HL-60 and K562 cells, but a similar proportion of cells are ultimately killed in both cell lines.
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PMID:Comparison of caspase activation and subcellular localization in HL-60 and K562 cells undergoing etoposide-induced apoptosis. 937 39


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