Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: EC:3.4.22.62 (caspase-9)
 7,507 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

We examined the role of caspases and serine protease(s) in cell death induced by tumour necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL). After incubation of adenocarcinoma cells with TRAIL, caspase-3, -8 were activated and the cleavage of Bid induced the release of cytochrome c, from the mitochondria to the cytosol. Tetrapeptide inhibitors of caspase-1, -2, -3, and -8 suppressed DNA fragmentation and attenuated the release of cytochrome c, whereas inhibitors of caspase-5 did not. Interestingly, the general serine protease(s) inhibitor 4-(2-aminoethyl)benzylsulfonyl fluoride (AEBSF) resulted in the arrest of apoptosis. However, the AEBSF did not prevent the release of mitochondrial cytochrome c during TRAIL-induced apoptosis. From these results, we postulate that serine protease(s) may be involved in post-mitochondrial apoptotic events, that lead to the activation of the initiator, caspase-9.
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PMID:Tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis inducing ligand (TRAIL)-induced apoptosis is dependent on activation of cysteine and serine proteases. 1155 86

Lexatumumab, a human agonistic monoclonal antibody against tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-related apoptosis-inducing ligand receptor-2 (TRAIL-R2), is a promising molecular-targeted therapeutic agent. Our past study indicated that low concentrations of doxorubicin sensitized renal cell carcinoma (RCC) cells to lexatumumab-mediated apoptosis. The present study was designed to examine the cellular and molecular effects of lexatumumab and anthracyclines in RCC cells. The treatment of human RCC cells with lexatumumab in combination with anthracyclines, epirubicin, and pirarubicin had a synergistic cytotoxicity. A marked synergistic apoptosis was induced by lexatumumab in combination with epirubicin or pirarubicin. Epirubicin and pirarubicin significantly increased the TRAIL-R2 expression at both the mRNA and the protein levels. The combination-induced cytotoxicity was significantly suppressed by the human recombinant DR5:Fc chimeric protein. To further explore the molecular mechanisms in this synergistic cytotoxicity with lexatumumab and anthracyclines, the changes in 84 apoptosis-related genes were evaluated by a quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) array. Among these genes, 18 (CD40LG, FASLG, LTA, TNSF7, FAS, BAG3, BAK1, BAX, BID, BIK, BCL10, caspase-1, caspase-5, caspase-6, caspase-10, TNF receptor-associated factor 1, PYCARD, and CIDEA) were significantly upregulated and eight (TNF receptor-associated factor 4, TNFRSF11B, TNF, BCL2, BCL2L1, BNIP3L, caspase-9, and DAPK1) were downregulated at mRNA levels in RCC cells cotreated with lexatumumab and epirubicin. Furthermore, the upregulation of mRNA levels of PYCARD and CIDEA was confirmed using real-time reverse transcriptase-PCR analysis. The present study demonstrates that anthracylines sensitize RCC cells to lexatumumab-mediated apoptosis by inducing TRAIL-R2 expression, and the utility of PCR array to elucidate the mechanism of synergistic apoptosis.
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PMID:Delineation of apoptotic genes for synergistic apoptosis of lexatumumab and anthracyclines in human renal cell carcinoma cells by polymerase chain reaction array. 2220 56

Pyroptosis is a form of lytic inflammatory cell death driven by inflammatory caspase-1, caspase-4, caspase-5 and caspase-11. These caspases cleave and activate the pore-forming protein gasdermin D (GSDMD) to induce membrane damage. By contrast, apoptosis is driven by apoptotic caspase-8 or caspase-9 and has traditionally been classified as an immunologically silent form of cell death. Emerging evidence suggests that therapeutics designed for cancer chemotherapy or inflammatory disorders such as SMAC mimetics, TAK1 inhibitors and BH3 mimetics promote caspase-8 or caspase-9-dependent inflammatory cell death and NLRP3 inflammasome activation. However, the mechanism by which caspase-8 or caspase-9 triggers cell lysis and NLRP3 activation is still undefined. Here, we demonstrate that during extrinsic apoptosis, caspase-1 and caspase-8 cleave GSDMD to promote lytic cell death. By engineering a novel Gsdmd D88A knock-in mouse, we further demonstrate that this proinflammatory function of caspase-8 is counteracted by caspase-3-dependent cleavage and inactivation of GSDMD at aspartate 88, and is essential to suppress GSDMD-dependent cell lysis during caspase-8-dependent apoptosis. Lastly, we provide evidence that channel-forming glycoprotein pannexin-1, but not GSDMD or GSDME promotes NLRP3 inflammasome activation during caspase-8 or caspase-9-dependent apoptosis.
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PMID:Extrinsic and intrinsic apoptosis activate pannexin-1 to drive NLRP3 inflammasome assembly. 3098 15