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

Statins inhibit 3-hydroxy-3-methyl-glutarylcoenzyme CoA (HMG-CoA) reductase, the proximal enzyme for cholesterol biosynthesis. They exhibit pleiotropic effects and are linked to health benefits for diseases including cancer and lung disease. Understanding their mechanism of action could point to new therapies, thus we investigated the response of primary cultured human airway mesenchymal cells, which play an effector role in asthma and chronic obstructive lung disease (COPD), to simvastatin exposure. Simvastatin induced apoptosis involving caspase-9, -3 and -7, but not caspase-8 in airway smooth muscle cells and fibroblasts. HMG-CoA inhibition did not alter cellular cholesterol content but did abrogate de novo cholesterol synthesis. Pro-apoptotic effects were prevented by exogenous mevalonate, geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate and farnesyl pyrophosphate, downstream products of HMG-CoA. Simvastatin increased expression of Bax, oligomerization of Bax and Bak, and expression of BH3-only p53-dependent genes, PUMA and NOXA. Inhibition of p53 and silencing of p53 unregulated modulator of apoptosis (PUMA) expression partly counteracted simvastatin-induced cell death, suggesting a role for p53-independent mechanisms. Simvastatin did not induce mitochondrial release of cytochrome c, but did promote release of inhibitor of apoptosis (IAP) proteins, Smac and Omi. Simvastatin also inhibited mitochondrial fission with the loss of mitochondrial Drp1, an essential component of mitochondrial fission machinery. Thus, simvastatin activates novel apoptosis pathways in lung mesenchymal cells involving p53, IAP inhibitor release, and disruption of mitochondrial fission.
 ...
PMID:Statin-triggered cell death in primary human lung mesenchymal cells involves p53-PUMA and release of Smac and Omi but not cytochrome c. 2004 37

Glioblastoma is the most common primary brain tumor in adults and one of its hallmarks is resistance to apoptosis. Acyl-CoA: cholesterol acyltransferase (ACAT) is an intracellular membrane-bound enzyme that uses cholesterol and long chain fatty acyl-CoA as substrates to produce cholesteryl esters. The presence of cholesteryl esters in glioblastoma may be related to vascular and/or cell neoplastic proliferation in the tumor mass, two prerequisites for tumor cell growth. ACAT activity has been detected in glioblastoma cell homogenates. The present study is the first report on the effect of Avasimibe, a specific inhibitor of ACAT, on glioma cell lines (U87, A172 and GL261). Our results showed that Avasimibe inhibited ACAT-1 expression and cholesterol ester synthesis in glioma cell lines. Moreover, Avasimibe inhibited the growth of the cells by inducing cell cycle arrest and induced apoptosis as a result of caspase-8 and caspase-3 activation. Also, Our findings provide proof of principle that targeting ACAT-1 with the inhibitor Avasimibe could be an efficient therapy in the treatment of glioblastoma.
 ...
PMID:Acyl-coenzyme A: cholesterol acyltransferase inhibitor Avasimibe affect survival and proliferation of glioma tumor cell lines. 2040 12