Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: EC:3.4.22.61 (caspase-8)
 6,833 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

We have used C6 glial cells (2B clone), early and late passage, as well as advanced passages (8-17) of glial cells derived from aged (18-month-old) mouse cerebral hemispheres (MACH), as model systems for studying glial properties. In this study passages 20-24 were considered "early" and passages 73-90 were considered "late." Activities of glutamine synthetase (GS) and cyclic nucleotide phosphohydrolase (CNP) were used as biochemical markers for astrocytes and oligodendrocytes, respectively. Glial phenotypes were identified immunocytochemically using double staining for glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and A2B5 antigen (type 1 and type 2 astrocytes) or galactocerebroside (GalC) and A2B5 antigen (oligodendrocytes); cells positive for A2B5 and negative for both GFAP and GalC were considered to be precursor cells. Cultures were grown either in DMEM supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum or in serum-free chemically defined medium (CDM) supplemented with insulin and transferrin. We report that early-passage C6 glial cells continue to be bipotential cells and when grown in the absence of serum express high GS and CNP activities correlating with the high number of GFAP- and GalC-positive cells, respectively. Late-passage cells continued to be committed to the type 2 astrocytic phenotype regardless of media composition (+/- serum). MACH cultures consist of protoplasmic type 1 astrocytes, differentiated type 2 astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes as well as glial progenitor cells. When these cultures were grown in CDM+transferrin, both GS and CNP activities increased, suggesting that transferrin has provided the signal for progenitor cells present in these cultures derived from aged brain to differentiate into type 2 astrocytes and oligodendrocytes.
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PMID:Comparative biochemical, morphological, and immunocytochemical studies between C-6 glial cells of early and late passages and advanced passages of glial cells derived from aged mouse cerebral hemispheres. 136 Nov 80

Chemotherapy has been used for treatment of breast cancer but with limited success. We characterized the effects of bcl-2 antisense and cisplatin combination therapy in two human isogenic breast carcinoma cells p53(+)MCF-7 and p53(-)MCF-7/E6. The transferrin-facilitated lipofection strategy we have developed yielded same transfection efficiency in both cells. Bcl-2 antisense delivered with this strategy significantly induced more cell death, apoptosis, and cytochrome c release in MCF-7/E6 than in MCF-7, but did not affect Fas level in both cells and activated caspase-8 equally. Cisplatin exerted same effects on cell viability and apoptosis in both cells, but released smaller amounts of cytochrome c while activated more caspase-8 in MCF-7/E6. The combination treatment yielded greater effects on cell viability, apoptosis, cytochrome c release, and caspase-8 activation than individual treatments in both cells although p53(-) cells were more sensitive. The potentiated activation of caspase-8 in the combination treatment suggested that caspase-8-mediated (but cytochrome c-independent) apoptotic pathway is the major contributor of the enhanced cell killing. Thus, bcl-2 antisense delivered with transferrin-facilitated lipofection can achieve the efficacy of killing breast cancer cells and sensitizing them to chemotherapy. Bcl-2 antisense and cisplatin combination treatment is a potentially useful therapeutic strategy for breast cancer irrespective of p53 status.
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PMID:BCL-2 antisense and cisplatin combination treatment of MCF-7 breast cancer cells with or without functional p53. 1622 92

Clathrin-mediated endocytosis (CME) constitutes the major pathway for uptake of signaling receptors into eukaryotic cells. As such, CME regulates signaling from cell-surface receptors, but whether and how specific signaling receptors reciprocally regulate the CME machinery remains an open question. Although best studied for its role in membrane fission, the GTPase dynamin also regulates early stages of CME. We recently reported that dynamin-1 (Dyn1), previously assumed to be neuron-specific, can be selectively activated in cancer cells to alter endocytic trafficking. Here we report that dynamin isoforms differentially regulate the endocytosis and apoptotic signaling downstream of TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand-death receptor (TRAIL-DR) complexes in several cancer cells. Whereas the CME of constitutively internalized transferrin receptors is mainly dependent on the ubiquitously expressed Dyn2, TRAIL-induced DR endocytosis is selectively regulated by activation of Dyn1. We show that TRAIL stimulation activates ryanodine receptor-mediated calcium release from endoplasmic reticulum stores, leading to calcineurin-mediated dephosphorylation and activation of Dyn1, TRAIL-DR endocytosis, and increased resistance to TRAIL-induced apoptosis. TRAIL-DR-mediated ryanodine receptor activation and endocytosis is dependent on early caspase-8 activation. These findings delineate specific mechanisms for the reciprocal crosstalk between signaling and the regulation of CME, leading to autoregulation of endocytosis and signaling downstream of surface receptors.
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PMID:TRAIL-death receptor endocytosis and apoptosis are selectively regulated by dynamin-1 activation. 2804 41