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

Apoptosis is a genetically programmed cell death that is required for morphogenesis during embryogenic development and for tissue homeostasis in adult organisms. In most cases, apoptosis involves cytochrome c release from mitochondria. In the cytosol, cytochrome c combines with APAF-1 in the presence of ATP to activate caspase-9 that, in turn, activates effectors caspases such as caspase-3. Bcl-2 and related proteins control cytochrome c release from the mitochondria whereas IAP (for Inhibitor of APoptosis) molecules modulate the activity of caspases. Plasma membrane receptors such as Fas (CD95, APO-1), characterized by a so-called "death domain" in their cytoplasmic domain, can activate the caspase cascade through adaptator molecules such as FADD (Fas-Associated protein with a Death Domain). Dysregulation of the apoptotic machinery plays a role in the pathogenesis of various diseases and molecules involved in cell death pathways are potential therapeutic targets in immunologic, neurologic, cancer, infectious and inflammatory diseases.
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PMID:[Apoptosis: molecular mechanisms]. 1010 3

A murine erythroleukemic cell line (1-2-3) which expresses only the temperature-sensitive mutant p53 gene (Ala-to-Val substitution at codon 135) was established. These cells showed typical characteristics of apoptosis, when they were cultured at 32 degrees C. In this process, p53 recovered the wild-type p53 function and the expression of the p21 (waf1/cip1/sdi1), cyclin G1 and gadd45 genes was increased. However, no significant changes were detected in the expression of the mdm2, bcl-2, bax, fas and fasl genes, suggesting the existence of other genes associated with apoptosis. Genes up-regulated by p53 were screened by the mRNA differential display method. One of the up-regulated genes was identified as the elongation factor 1 alpha (EF-1 alpha) gene. EF-1 alpha is also a microtubule-severing protein. Upon the temperature-shift, the cells developed the morphology and the localization of alpha-tubulin similar to those of the cells treated with vincristine, a drug that affects microtubules. The microtubule-severing associated with up-regulation of EF-1 alpha by p53 may be a cause of the cell death. On the other hand, the function of cyclin G1 is not so clear despite the fact that 1-2-3 cells showed a significant increase of the cyclin G1 gene during the early stage of apoptosis. The yeast two-hybrid system was used to identify cyclin G1-associated proteins. One is a cytochrome c (Cyt c) oxidase subunit II (COXII). Cyclin G1 and COXII were co-immunoprecipitated from an extract of human osteosarcoma cell line that expressed high levels of cyclin G1. COX activity was also increased by temperature-shift in this cell line. The pattern of changes in COX activity was closely reflected by the expression of the cyclin G1 gene. Cyclin G1 and COXII associate physically with each other in vivo and that activation of COXII by binding to cyclin G1 upregulated by p53 may be associated with apoptosis. These two new pathways, p53-EF-1 alpha-microtubule-severing (-distortion of cytoskeleton) and p53-cyclin G1-COXII (-CytC, ATP-caspase-3 activation), may cooperate to induce apoptosis in this cell line.
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PMID:The mechanisms of death of an erythroleukemic cell line by p53: involvement of the microtubule and mitochondria. 1019 36

Activation of pro-caspase-3 is a central event in the execution phase of apoptosis and appears to serve as the convergence point of different apoptotic signaling pathways. Recently, mitochondria were found to play a central role in apoptosis through release of cytochrome c and activation of caspases. Moreover, a sub-population of pro-caspase-3 has been found to be localized to this organelle. In the present study, we demonstrate that pro-caspase-3 is present in the mitochondrial fraction of Jurkat T cells in a complex with the chaperone proteins Hsp60 and Hsp10. Induction of apoptosis with staurosporine led to the activation of mitochondrial pro-caspase-3 and its dissociation from the Hsps which were released from mitochondria. The release of Hsps occurred simultaneously with the release of other mitochondrial intermembrane space proteins including cytochrome c and adenylate kinase, prior to a loss of mitochondrial transmembrane potential. In in vitro systems, recombinant Hsp60 and Hsp10 accelerated the activation of pro-caspase-3 by cytochrome c and dATP in an ATP-dependent manner, consistent with their function as chaperones. This finding suggests that the release of mitochondrial Hsps may also accelerate caspase activation in the cytoplasm of intact cells.
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PMID:Presence of a pre-apoptotic complex of pro-caspase-3, Hsp60 and Hsp10 in the mitochondrial fraction of jurkat cells. 1020 58

The activation of caspases represents a critical step in the pathways leading to the biochemical and morphological changes that underlie apoptosis. Multiple pathways leading to caspase activation appear to exist and vary depending on the death-inducing stimulus. We demonstrate that the activation of caspase-3, in Jurkat cells stimulated to undergo apoptosis by a Fas-independent pathway, is catalyzed by caspase-6. Caspase-6 was found to co-purify with caspase-3 as part of a multiprotein activation complex from extracts of camptothecin-treated Jurkat cells. A biochemical analysis of the protein constituents of the activation complex showed that Hsp60 was also present. Furthermore, an interaction between Hsp60 and caspase-3 could be demonstrated by co-immunoprecipitation experiments using HeLa as well as Jurkat cell extracts. Using a reconstituted in vitro system, Hsp60 was able to substantially accelerate the maturation of procaspase-3 by different upstream activator caspases and this effect was dependent on ATP hydrolysis. We propose that the ATP-dependent 'foldase' activity of Hsp60 improves the vulnerability of pro-caspase-3 to proteolytic maturation by upstream caspases and that this represents an important regulatory event in apoptotic cell death.
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PMID:Hsp60 accelerates the maturation of pro-caspase-3 by upstream activator proteases during apoptosis. 1020 59

We report here the reconstitution of the de novo procaspase-9 activation pathway using highly purified cytochrome c, recombinant APAF-1, and recombinant procaspase-9. APAF-1 binds and hydrolyzes ATP or dATP to ADP or dADP, respectively. The hydrolysis of ATP/dATP and the binding of cytochrome c promote APAF-1 oligomerization, forming a large multimeric APAF-1.cytochrome c complex. Such a complex can be isolated using gel filtration chromatography and is by itself sufficient to recruit and activate procaspase-9. The stoichiometric ratio of procaspase-9 to APAF-1 is approximately 1 to 1 in the complex. Once activated, caspase-9 disassociates from the complex and becomes available to cleave and activate downstream caspases such as caspase-3.
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PMID:An APAF-1.cytochrome c multimeric complex is a functional apoptosome that activates procaspase-9. 1020 61

Brief periods of in vitro hypoxia/ischemia induce apoptosis of cultured renal epithelial cells, but the underlying mechanisms remain unknown. We show that partial ATP depletion (approximately 10-65% of control) results in a duration-dependent induction of apoptosis in Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells, as evidenced by internucleosomal DNA cleavage (DNA laddering and in situ nick end labeling), morphological changes (cell shrinkage), and plasma membrane alterations (externalization of phosphatidylserine). The ATP-depleted cells display a significant upregulation of Fas, Fas ligand, and the Fas-associating protein with death domain (FADD). Exogenous application of stimulatory Fas monoclonal antibodies also induces apoptosis in nonischemic MDCK cells, indicating that they retain Fas-dependent pathways of programmed cell death. Furthermore, cleavage of poly(ADP)ribose polymerase (PARP) is evident after ATP depletion, indicating activation of caspases. Indeed, the apoptotic cells display a significant increase in caspase-8 (FLICE) activity. Finally, apoptosis induced by ATP depletion is ameliorated by pretreatment with inhibitors of caspase-8 (IETD), caspase-1 (YVAD), or caspase-3 (DEVD) but is not affected by inhibitors of serine proteases (TPCK). Our results indicate that partial ATP depletion of MDCK cells results in apoptosis and that Fas- and caspase-mediated pathways may play a critical role.
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PMID:Partial ATP depletion induces Fas- and caspase-mediated apoptosis in MDCK cells. 1036 72

Recently, advances have been made in understanding the molecular mechanisms by which bisphosphonate drugs inhibit bone resorption. Studies with the macrophage-like cell line J774 have suggested that alendronate, an amino-containing bisphosphonate, causes apoptosis by preventing post-translational modification of GTP-binding proteins with isoprenoid lipids. However, clodronate, a nonaminobisphosphonate, does not inhibit protein isoprenylation but can be metabolized intracellularly to a cytotoxic, beta-gamma-methylene (AppCp-type) analog of ATP. These observations raise the possibility that bisphosphonates can be divided into two groups with distinct molecular mechanisms of action depending on the nature of the R2 side chain. We addressed this question by directly comparing the ability of three aminobisphosphonates (alendronate, ibandronate, and pamidronate) and three nonaminobisphosphonates (clodronate, etidronate, and tiludronate) to inhibit protein isoprenylation and activate caspase-3-like proteases or to be metabolized to AppCp-type nucleotides by J774 cells. All three aminobisphosphonates inhibited protein isoprenylation and activated caspase-3-like proteases. Apoptosis and caspase activation after 24-h treatment with the aminobisphosphonates could be prevented by addition of farnesol or geranylgeraniol, confirming that these bisphosphonates inhibit the metabolic mevalonate pathway. No AppCp-type metabolites of the aminobisphosphonates could be detected by mass spectrometry. The three nonaminobisphosphonates did not inhibit protein isoprenylation or cause activation of caspase-3-like proteases, but were incorporated into AppCp-type nucleotides. Taken together, these observations clearly demonstrate that bisphosphonate drugs can be divided into two pharmacological classes: the aminobisphosphonates, which act by inhibiting protein isoprenylation, and the less potent nonaminobisphosphonates, which act through the intracellular accumulation of AppCp-type metabolites.
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PMID:Farnesol and geranylgeraniol prevent activation of caspases by aminobisphosphonates: biochemical evidence for two distinct pharmacological classes of bisphosphonate drugs. 1038 93

Cytochrome c is thought to play an important role in the initiation of apoptosis following its release from mitochondria. It is controversial whether such release is also involved in caspase activation and apoptotic cell death after ligation of the cell surface molecule Fas. We addressed this issue by investigating cells from the human cell lines Jurkat and SKW6 which had been treated with the inhibitor of the mitochondrial F0/F1-ATPase, oligomycin. Oligomycin-treatment led, over a wide range of concentrations, to ATP-depletion and, at similar concentrations, abrogated the appearance of caspase-3-like activity caused by stauroporine. Electroporation of cytochrome c protein into intact cells induced caspase activation in both cell lines and significant nuclear apoptosis in Jurkat cells. In ATP-depleted cells, electroporation of cytochrome c induced neither caspase activation nor nuclear fragmentation. Fas-induced caspase activation and nuclear apoptosis, however, were unaffected by the depletion of ATP. Thus, cytochrome c is unlikely to be an important factor in Fas-induced cell death.
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PMID:Cytochrome c is dispensable for fas-induced caspase activation and apoptosis. 1040 25

Mice with a null mutation of the gene encoding interferon consensus sequence-binding protein (ICSBP) develop a disease with marked expansion of granulocytes and macrophages that frequently progresses to a fatal blast crisis, thus resembling human chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). One important feature of CML is decreased responsiveness of myeloid cells to apoptotic stimuli. Here we show that myeloid cells from mice deficient in ICSBP exhibit reduced spontaneous apoptosis and a significant decrease in sensitivity to apoptosis induced by DNA damage. In contrast, apoptosis in thymocytes from ICSBP-deficient mice is unaffected. We also show that overexpression of ICSBP in the human U937 monocytic cell line enhances the rate of spontaneous apoptosis and the sensitivity to apoptosis induced by etoposide, lipopolysaccharide plus ATP, or rapamycin. Programmed cell death induced by etoposide was specifically blocked by peptides inhibitory for the caspase-1 or caspase-3 subfamilies of caspases. Studies of proapoptotic genes showed that cells overexpressing ICSBP have enhanced expression of caspase-3 precursor protein. In addition, analyses of antiapoptotic genes showed that overexpression of ICSBP results in decreased expression of Bcl-X(L). These data suggest that ICSBP modulates survival of myeloid cells by regulating expression of apoptosis-related genes.
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PMID:Regulation of apoptosis in myeloid cells by interferon consensus sequence-binding protein. 1043 Jun 29

An early transient burst of poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation of nuclear proteins was recently shown to be required for apoptosis to proceed in various cell lines (Simbulan-Rosenthal, C., Rosenthal, D., Iyer, S., Boulares, H., and Smulson, M. (1998) J. Biol. Chem. 273, 13703-13712) followed by cleavage of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP), catalyzed by caspase-3. This inactivation of PARP has been proposed to prevent depletion of NAD (a PARP substrate) and ATP, which are thought to be required for later events in apoptosis. The role of PARP cleavage in apoptosis has now been investigated in human osteosarcoma cells and PARP -/- fibroblasts stably transfected with a vector encoding a caspase-3-resistant PARP mutant. Expression of this mutant PARP increased the rate of staurosporine and tumor necrosis factor-alpha-induced apoptosis, at least in part by reducing the time interval required for the onset of caspase-3 activation and internucleosomal DNA fragmentation, as well as the generation of 50-kilobase pair DNA breaks, thought to be associated with early chromatin unfolding. Overexpression of wild-type PARP in osteosarcoma cells also accelerated the apoptotic process, although not to the same extent as that apparent in cells expressing the mutant PARP. These effects of the mutant and wild-type enzymes might be due to the early and transient poly(ADP-ribose) synthesis in response to DNA breaks, and the accompanying depletion of NAD apparent in the transfected cells. The accelerated NAD depletion did not seem to interfere with the later stages of apoptosis. These results indicate that PARP activation and subsequent cleavage have active and complex roles in apoptosis.
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PMID:Role of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) cleavage in apoptosis. Caspase 3-resistant PARP mutant increases rates of apoptosis in transfected cells. 1043 58


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