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

Neuronal apoptotic execution uses a cytochrome c-dependent caspase activation mechanism that is conserved in other cell types. Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase and its downstream effector, Akt/protein kinase B, appear to control this mechanism and govern the life/death decision. We have developed a cell-free system using cytosol from human neuroblastoma (SY5Y) cells that reconstitutes biochemical features of neuronal apoptosis. In the presence of cytochrome c and ATP, caspase-9 and -3 were activated, which initiated chromatin condensation and DNA cleavage in rat pheochromocytoma (PC12) nuclei. Akt was cleaved in reactions where caspase-3 was activated and its cleavage was prevented by the caspase inhibitor DEVD-aldehyde. The phosphatase inhibitors orthovanadate and okadaic acid prevented catalytic processing and activation of caspase-3 and digestion of Akt and partially inhibited cleavage of caspase-9. Caspase-dependent destruction of Akt irreversibly inactivates this key mediator of survival signaling, ensuring that the execution pathway will prevail.
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PMID:Phosphorylation-dependent Akt cleavage in neural cell in vitro reconstitution of apoptosis. 1050 Dec 28

Alveolar macrophages (AMs) are the principal target cells of silica and occupy a key position in the pathogenesis of silica-related diseases. Silica has been found to induce apoptosis in AMs, whereas its underlying mechanisms involving the initiation and execution of apoptosis are largely unknown. The main objective of the present study was to examine the form of cell death caused by silica and the mechanisms involved. Silica-induced apoptosis in AMs was evaluated by terminal deoxynucleotidyltransferase-mediated dUTP nick end-labeling assay and cell cycle/DNA content analysis. The elevated level of reactive oxygen species (ROS), caspase-9 and caspase-3 activation, and poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) cleavage in silica-treated AMs were also determined. The results showed that there was a temporal pattern of apoptotic events in silica-treated AMs, starting with ROS formation and followed by caspase-9 and caspase-3 activation, PARP cleavage, and DNA fragmentation. Silica-induced apoptosis was significantly attenuated by a caspase-3 inhibitor, N-acetyl-Asp-Glu-Val-Asp aldehyde, and ebselen, a potent antioxidant. These findings suggest that apoptosis is an important form of cell death caused by silica exposure in which the elevated ROS level that results from silica exposure may act as an initiator, leading to caspase activation and PARP cleavage to execute the apoptotic process.
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PMID:Reactive oxygen species and caspase activation mediate silica-induced apoptosis in alveolar macrophages. 1113 90

We have studied the role of caspases and mitochondria in apoptosis induced by 2-chloro-2'-deoxyadenosine (cladribine) in several human leukaemic cell lines. Cladribine treatment induced mitochondrial transmembrane potential (DeltaPsi(m)) loss, phosphatidylserine exposure, caspase activation and development of typical apoptotic morphology in JM1 (pre-B), Jurkat (T) and U937 (promonocytic) cells. Western-blot analysis of cell extracts revealed the activation of at least caspases 3, 6, 8 and 9. Co-treatment with Z-VAD-fmk (benzyloxy-carbonyl-Val-Ala-Asp-fluoromethylketone), a general caspase inhibitor, significantly prevented cladribine-induced death in JM1 and Jurkat cells for the first approximately 40 h, but not for longer times. Z-VAD-fmk also partly prevented some morphological and biochemical features of apoptosis in U937 cells, but not cell death. Co-incubation with selective caspase inhibitors Ac-DEVD-CHO (N-acetyl-Asp-Glu-Val-Asp-aldehyde), Ac-LEHD-CHO (N-acetyl-Leu-Glu-His-Asp-aldehyde) or Z-IETD-fmk (benzyloxycarbonyl-Ile-Glu-Thr-Asp-fluoromethylketone), inhibition of protein synthesis with cycloheximide or cell-cycle arrest with aphidicolin did not prevent cell death. Overexpression of Bcl-2, but not CrmA, efficiently prevented death in Jurkat cells. In all cell lines, death was always preceded by Delta Psi(m) loss and accompanied by the translocation of the protein apoptosis-inducing factor (AIF) from mitochondria to the nucleus. These results suggest that caspases are differentially involved in induction and execution of apoptosis depending on the leukaemic cell lineage. In any case, Delta Psi(m) loss marked the point of no return in apoptosis and may be caused by two different pathways, one caspase-dependent and the other caspase-independent. Execution of apoptosis was always performed after Delta Psi(m) loss by a caspase-9-triggered caspase cascade and the action of AIF.
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PMID:Cladribine induces apoptosis in human leukaemia cells by caspase-dependent and -independent pathways acting on mitochondria. 1167 27

Neuroblastoma is the most common extracranial solid tumor of childhood. N-type neuroblastoma cells (represented by SH-SY5Y and IMR32 cell lines) are characterized by a neuronal phenotype. N-type cell lines are generally N-myc amplified, express the anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2, and do not express caspase-8. The present study was designed to determine the mechanism by which N-type cells die in response to specific cytotoxic agents (such as cisplatin and doxorubicin) commonly used to treat this disease. We found that N-type cells were equally sensitive to cisplatin and doxorubicin. Yet death induced by cisplatin was inhibited by the nonselective caspase inhibitor z-Val-Ala-Asp-fluoromethylketone or the specific caspase-9 inhibitor N-acetyl-Leu-Glu-His-Asp-aldehyde, whereas in contrast, caspase inhibition did not prevent doxorubicin-induced death. Neither the reactive oxygen species nor the mitochondrial permeability transition appears to play an important role in this process. Doxorubicin induced NF-kappa B transcriptional activation in association with I-kappa B alpha degradation prior to loss of cell viability. Surprisingly, the antioxidant and NF-kappa B inhibitor pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate blocked doxorubicin-induced NF-kappa B transcriptional activation and provided profound protection against doxorubicin killing. Moreover, SH-SY5Y cells expressing a super-repressor form of I-kappa B were completely resistant to doxorubicin killing. Together these findings show that NF-kappa B activation mediates doxorubicin-induced cell death without evidence of caspase function and suggest that cisplatin and doxorubicin engage different death pathways to kill neuroblastoma cells.
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PMID:NF-kappa B activation mediates doxorubicin-induced cell death in N-type neuroblastoma cells. 1167 90

Apoptosis triggered through the intrinsic pathway by radiation and anti-neoplastic drugs is initiated by the activation of caspase-9. To elucidate control mechanisms in this pathway we used a range of synthetic and natural reagents. The inhibitory potency of acetyl-Asp-Glu-Val-Asp-aldehyde ('Ac-DEVD-CHO'), benzyloxycarbonyl-Val-Ala-Asp-fluoromethylketone ('Z-VAD-FMK') and the endogenous caspase inhibitor X-chromosome-linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein ('XIAP') against recombinant caspase-9 were predictive of the efficacy of these compounds in a cell-free system. However, the viral proteins CrmA and p35, although potent inhibitors of recombinant caspase-9, had almost no ability to block caspase-9 in this system. These findings were also mirrored in cell expression studies. We hypothesize that the viral inhibitors CrmA and p35 are excluded from reacting productively with the natural form of active caspase-9 in vivo, making the potency of inhibitors highly context-dependent. This is supported by survival data from a mouse model of apoptosis driven by Sindbis virus expressing either p35 or a catalytic mutant of caspase-9. These results consolidate previous findings that CrmA is a potent inhibitor of caspase-9 in vitro, yet fails to block caspase-9-mediated cell death.
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PMID:Inhibitor specificity of recombinant and endogenous caspase-9. 1206 74

Chronic ethanol treatment caused a differential modulation of apoptosis-associated proteins, cytochrome c release, concomitant with procaspase-9 and procaspase-3 activation leading to oligonucleosomal DNA fragmentation in rat cerebral cortex and cerebellum. Caspase-3 proform (32 kDa) showed decreased immunoreactivity in cortex and cerebellum, while the cleaved active fragment (17 kDa) increased significantly in cerebellum after ethanol treatment. Further, chronic ethanol treatment increased caspase-3 activity in cortex and to a higher extent in cerebellum, which was further confirmed by blocking experiments with caspase-3 specific inhibitor, N-acetyl-Asp-Glu-Val-Asp-aldehyde (Ac-DEVD-CHO). We tested whether activated caspase-3 cleaves downstream substrates such as poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 and protein kinase C-delta (PKC-delta). Western blots showed poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 cleavage to its signature fragment of 85 kDa and decreased levels of PKC-delta in cerebral cortex and cerebellum after ethanol treatment, suggestive of caspase-3 activation. Elevated caspase-3 activity in cerebellum than cortex correlating with cytochrome c, caspase-9, active caspase-3 (p17), poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 and PKC-delta data, suggests a mechanism by which ethanol might be exerting pro-apoptotic events in brain and how selective brain regions such as cerebellum are vulnerable to ethanol neurotoxicity in terms of cell death.
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PMID:Differential modulation of apoptosis-associated proteins by ethanol in rat cerebral cortex and cerebellum. 1279 49

Cisplatin-selected cervix carcinoma HeLa cell lines induced less apoptosis, and weaker activation by cisplatin or Fas-activating antibody, of mitochondrial-associated caspase-9 and death receptor-mediated caspase-8 than did parental cells. Furthermore, less DISC (death-inducing signalling complex) was formed in cisplatin-selected cell lines than in parental cells. Ac-IETD-CHO (acetyl-Ile-Glu-Thr-Asp-aldehyde), which has a certain preference for inhibiting caspase-8, or Fas-antagonistic antibody, significantly inhibited cisplatin-induced apoptosis in both parental and cisplatin-selected HeLa cell lines. These results imply that cell-surface death signalling is inducible by cisplatin; that reduction of this pathway is associated with drug resistance, and that cisplatin-selected cells acquire cross-resistance to cell-surface death signalling. Sequential up-regulation of FLIP (FLICE-like inhibitory protein), but not Bcl-2, Bcl-x(L) or inhibitors of apoptosis protein (IAPs), was observed in resistant cells but not in parental cells. The inhibition of FLIP by FLIP antisense oligonucleotides promotes cisplatin and Fas-antibody-induced apoptosis. However, the modulation of apoptosis by FLIP antisense oligonucleotides in resistant cells is greater than that in parental cells. The presented data reveal that the up-regulation of FLIP may contribute to the suppression of apoptosis and thereby change cells that are resistant to cisplatin and Fas-mediated death signals. The results also show that cancer cells that have undergone long-term chemotherapy and become chemoresistant may change the FLIP level, becoming cross-resistant to death factors such as Fas.
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PMID:Up-regulation of FLIP in cisplatin-selected HeLa cells causes cross-resistance to CD95/Fas death signalling. 1291 32

Proliferation of small blood vessels in synovial tissues is one of the pathologic features of rheumatoid arthritis. In this study we tested the hypothesis that nitric oxide (NO) protects endothelial cells (ECs) against apoptogenic agents in vitro. Human umbilical-vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were cultured with and without NO donor S -nitro- N -acetylpenicillamine (SNAP) and further incubated in the presence or absence of Z-leucine-leucine-leucine-aldehyde (LLL-CHO), etoposide, or C2-ceramide. After cultivation, apoptosis of HUVECs was quantified on the basis of disruption of mitochondrial transmembrane potential (DeltaPsim), activation of caspases, and the presence of hypodiploid DNA-positive cells. Treatment of HUVECs with LLL-CHO, etoposide, or C2-ceramide induced DeltaPsim, activation of caspase-3, caspase-8, and caspase-9 and the appearance of hypodiploid DNA-positive cells. NO production in HUVECs was clearly increased by SNAP. Apoptotic cell death in HUVECs induced by LLL-CHO, etoposide, and C2-ceramide was significantly suppressed by SNAP treatment. HUVECs in vitro expressed Bcl-2, Bcl-xL, and Bax; however, expression was not changed by SNAP treatment in the presence or absence of LLL-CHO, etoposide, or C2-ceramide. Although the molecule(s) responsible for the protective effects of NO remains to be identified, our data imply that NO protects HUVECs against mitochondrial perturbation caused by apoptogenic agents. These results suggest that NO promotes endothelial-cell proliferation and angiogenesis in the synovial tissues of patients with rheumatoid arthritis and that NO may be a therapeutic target for rheumatoid arthritis.
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PMID:Nitric oxide acts on the mitochondria and protects human endothelial cells from apoptosis. 1545 84

Acrolein is a highly reactive alpha,beta-unsaturated aldehyde, which is a product of lipid peroxidation. It is an environmental pollutant that has been implicated in multiple respiratory diseases. Acrolein is produced by the enzymatic oxidative deamination of spermine by amine oxidase. Oxidation products of polyamines have been involved in the inhibition of cell proliferation, apoptosis, and the inhibition of DNA and protein synthesis. The present study investigates the mechanism of cell death induced by acrolein. Acrolein induced apoptosis through a decrease in mitochondrial membrane potential, the liberation of cytochrome c, the activation of initiator caspase-9, and the activation of the effector caspase-7. However, acrolein inhibited enzymatic activity of the effector caspase-3, although a cleavage of pro-caspase-3 occurred. The activation of caspases-9 and -7 was confirmed by the cleavage of their pro-enzyme form by acrolein. Apoptosis was inhibited by an inhibitor of caspase-9, but not by an inhibitor of caspase-3. The induction of apoptosis by acrolein was confirmed morphologically by the condensation of nuclear chromatin and by the cleavage of the inhibitor of caspase activated DNase (ICAD), which leads to the liberation of CAD that causes DNA fragmentation. These results demonstrate that acrolein causes apoptosis through the mitochondrial pathway.
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PMID:The aldehyde acrolein induces apoptosis via activation of the mitochondrial pathway. 1584 39

Acrolein is a highly electrophilic alpha,beta-unsaturated aldehyde to which humans are exposed in many situations. It is an environmental pollutant that is responsible for multiple respiratory diseases and has been implicated in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease. The hypothesis of the study is that the antioxidant N-acetylcysteine (NAC), a precursor of glutathione, could protect cells against acrolein-induced apoptosis. Exposure of Chinese hamster ovary cells to a noncytotoxic dose of acrolein (4 fmol/cell) depleted intracellular glutathione to 45% of initial levels. NAC, which increased intracellular glutathione levels by 30%, afforded protection against acrolein-induced cytotoxicity (loss of cell proliferation) and apoptosis. NAC protected against apoptosis by diminishing acrolein-induced activation of the mitochondrial death pathway. NAC inhibited acrolein-induced Bad translocation from the cytosol to the mitochondria, as well as Bcl-2 translocation from mitochondria to the cytosol, as evaluated by Western blot analysis. However, NAC had no effect on acrolein-induced Bax translocation to mitochondria and cytochrome c liberation into the cytosol. Meanwhile, NAC inhibited depolarization of mitochondrial membrane potential, as evaluated by rhodamine fluorescence using flow cytometry. NAC also inhibited procaspase-9 processing, activation of enzymatic activity of caspase-9, -7, and -8, and poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase cleavage induced by acrolein. Inhibition of acrolein-induced apoptosis using NAC was confirmed morphologically by diminished condensation of nuclear chromatin, as evaluated by fluorescence microscopy. These findings suggest that NAC could be potentially useful as a protective agent for people exposed to acrolein.
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PMID:Inhibition of acrolein-induced apoptosis by the antioxidant N-acetylcysteine. 1720 47


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