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)

Normal epithelial cells undergo apoptosis if integrinmediated matrix contacts are lost, in a process termed 'anoikis'. Anoikis prevents shed epithelial cells from colonizing elsewhere, and is thus essential for maintaining appropriate tissue organisation. Aberrant oncogenes or tumor suppressor genes can cause resistance to anoikis, thereby contributing substantially to malignancy. Apoptosis is mediated by a well-ordered signaling cascade, which involves activation of intracellular proteases known as caspases. However, the mechanism by which the caspase cascade is initiated following cell-matrix detachment is unknown. We have hypothesized that death receptor activation might be involved in anoikis. To test this hypothesis, we developed a transient assay for anoikis and used it to assay the effects of proteins that block the function of domains found within death receptors known as death domains. In this assay, silencer of death domains (SODD) and dominant-negative FAS-associated death domain protein (FADD) efficiently inhibited anoikis in Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells. The protective activity of SODD required its BAG domain, which interacts with the heat shock proteins hsp70 and hsc70, and inhibits the chaperone activity of the latter. Both caspase 8, which physically associates with death receptors, and cleavage of the caspase-8 substrate BID, were activated by cell-matrix detachment. These findings indicate a role for death receptors or proteins with related death domains in triggering anoikis.
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PMID:Evidence for a function of death-receptor-related, death-domain-containing proteins in anoikis. 1050 12

Detachment of most untransformed adherent cells from the extracellular matrix promotes apoptosis, in a process termed anoikis [1] [2]. The death signalling mechanisms involved in this process are not known, although adhesion or transformation by ras oncogenes have been shown to protect epithelial cells from apoptosis through activation of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase and protein kinase B (PKB/Akt) [3]. Here we show that detachment-induced apoptosis (anoikis) is blocked by the expression of a dominant-negative form of FAS-associated death domain protein (FADD) in a number of untransformed epithelial cell lines. Because the soluble extracellular domains of the death receptors CD95, DR4 and DR5 failed to block anoikis, we conclude that ligand-dependent activation of these death receptors is not involved in this process. Detachment induced strong activation of caspase 8 and caspase 3. Detachment-induced caspase-8 activation did not require the function of downstream caspases but was blocked by overexpression of the anti-apoptotic proteins Bcl-2 or Bcl-X(L). We propose that caspase-8 activation is the initiating event in anoikis, which is subsequently subject to a positive-feedback loop involving mitochondrial events.
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PMID:Involvement of FADD and caspase-8 signalling in detachment-induced apoptosis. 1050 19

Tumour necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) effectively kills tumour cells but not normal cells. We investigated TRAIL sensitivity and the TRAIL-induced apoptosis signalling pathway in a panel of B-lymphocytic leukaemia cell lines. Depending upon TRAIL sensitivity, leukaemia cells could be divided into three groups: highly sensitive, moderately sensitive and resistant. TRAIL receptor-2 (DR5) plays an important role in transducing apoptosis signals. DR5 was internalized into the cytoplasm where it recruited FAS-associated death domain protein (FADD) under TRAIL stimulation in both sensitive and resistant cells. However, the active form of caspase-8 was recruited to FADD and only sensitive cells showed increased caspase-8 activity upon TRAIL stimulation. The caspase-8 specific inhibitor, Z-IETD, impaired caspase-8 activation and completely abrogated TRAIL-induced apoptosis. These results suggest that TRAIL resistance in B-lymphocytic leukaemia cells is due to negative regulation at the level of caspase-8 activation and that caspase-8 activation is an indispensable process in TRAIL-induced apoptosis. However, FADD-like interleukin-1 beta-converting enzyme inhibitory protein (c-FLIPL) was similarly expressed and down-regulated after TRAIL stimulation in both sensitive and resistant cells. Interestingly, in some cell lines, TRAIL sensitivity and caspase-8 activity was enhanced or restored with the treatment of cycloheximide (CHX). In addition, X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis (XIAP) levels decreased significantly and rapidly following treatment with CHX. Down-regulation of XIAP may be responsible for enhancement or restoration of TRAIL sensitivity after CHX treatment in B-lymphocytic leukaemia cells.
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PMID:Chemical sensitization and regulation of TRAIL-induced apoptosis in a panel of B-lymphocytic leukaemia cell lines. 1463 85

Multiple mechanisms exist by which tumour cells can escape CD95-mediated apoptosis. Previous studies by our laboratory have shown that primary B cells from non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma (B-NHL) were resistant to CD95-induced cell death. In the current study, we have analysed the mechanisms underlying CD95 resistance in primary human lymphoma B cells. We report that FADD (FAS-associated death domain protein) and caspase-8 were constitutively expressed in lymphoma B cells and that the CD95 pathway was blocked upstream to caspase-8 activation. However, caspase-8 was processed and functional after treatment with staurosporine (STS). We found that the expression levels of FLICE (FADD-like interleukin-1 beta-converting enzyme)-Inhibitory Protein (c-FLIP) and Bcl-2-related proteins were heterogeneous in B-NHL cells and were not related to CD95 resistance. Finally, we report the absence of a CD95-induced signalling complex [death-inducing signalling complex (DISC)] in lymphoma B cells, with no FADD and caspase-8 recruitment to CD95 receptor. In contrast, DISC formation was observed in CD95-resistant non-tumoural (NT) B cells. Therefore, we propose that the absence of DISC formation in primary lymphoma B cells may contribute to protect these cells from CD95-induced apoptosis.
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PMID:Impairment of death-inducing signalling complex formation in CD95-resistant human primary lymphoma B cells. 1500 62