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)

Mitochondria play a key part in the regulation of apoptosis (cell death). Their intermembrane space contains several proteins that are liberated through the outer membrane in order to participate in the degradation phase of apoptosis. Here we report the identification and cloning of an apoptosis-inducing factor, AIF, which is sufficient to induce apoptosis of isolated nuclei. AIF is a flavoprotein of relative molecular mass 57,000 which shares homology with the bacterial oxidoreductases; it is normally confined to mitochondria but translocates to the nucleus when apoptosis is induced. Recombinant AIF causes chromatin condensation in isolated nuclei and large-scale fragmentation of DNA. It induces purified mitochondria to release the apoptogenic proteins cytochrome c and caspase-9. Microinjection of AIF into the cytoplasm of intact cells induces condensation of chromatin, dissipation of the mitochondrial transmembrane potential, and exposure of phosphatidylserine in the plasma membrane. None of these effects is prevented by the wide-ranging caspase inhibitor known as Z-VAD.fmk. Overexpression of Bcl-2, which controls the opening of mitochondrial permeability transition pores, prevents the release of AIF from the mitochondrion but does not affect its apoptogenic activity. These results indicate that AIF is a mitochondrial effector of apoptotic cell death.
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PMID:Molecular characterization of mitochondrial apoptosis-inducing factor. 998 1

Caspase-2 is one of the earliest identified caspases, but the mechanism of caspase-2-induced apoptosis remains unknown. We show here that caspase-2 engages the mitochondria-dependent apoptotic pathway by inducing the release of cytochrome c (Cyt c) and other mitochondrial apoptogenic factors into the cell cytoplasm. In support of these observations we found that Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL can block caspase-2- and CRADD (caspase and RIP adaptor with death domain)-induced cell death. Unlike caspase-8, which can process all known caspase zymogens directly, caspase-2 is completely inactive toward other caspase zymogens. However, like caspase-8, physiological levels of purified caspase-2 can cleave cytosolic Bid protein, which in turn can trigger the release of Cyt c from isolated mitochondria. Interestingly, caspase-2 can also induce directly the release of Cyt c, AIF (apoptosis-inducing factor), and Smac (second mitochondria-derived activator of caspases protein) from isolated mitochondria independent of Bid or other cytosolic factors. The caspase-2-released Cyt c is sufficient to activate the Apaf-caspase-9 apoptosome in vitro. In combination, our data suggest that caspase-2 is a direct effector of the mitochondrial apoptotic pathway.
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PMID:Caspase-2 induces apoptosis by releasing proapoptotic proteins from mitochondria. 1183 78

One of the cellular responses to DNA damaging events is the activation of programmed cell death, also known as apoptosis. Apoptosis is an important process in limiting tumorigenesis by eliminating cells with damaged DNA. This view is reinforced by the finding that many genes with pro-apoptotic function are absent or altered in cancer cells. The tumor suppressor p53 performs a significant role in apoptotic signaling by controlling expression of a host of genes that have pro-apoptotic or pro-survival function. The S(N)1 DNA alkylating agent N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG) triggers apoptosis and the upregulation/phosphorylation of p53; however, the mechanism(s) governing MNNG-induced cell death remain unresolved. We observed that the human lymphoblastoid cell line WTK-1, which expresses mutant p53, shows far less sensitivity to the cytotoxic effects of MNNG than the closely related, p53-normal line TK-6. Exposure to 15 muM MNNG (LD50 at 24 h in TK-6) leads to a kinetically slower rate of apoptotic onset in WTK-1 cells compared to TK-6 as judged by viability assays and approaches that directly examine apoptotic onset. Similar results were obtained using an unrelated human lymphoblastoid line B310 expressing reduced levels of p53 due to E6 oncoprotein expression, indicating that MNNG activates both p53-dependent and -independent apoptotic mechanisms and that these two mechanisms are discernable by the rates which they trigger apoptotic onset. We document, during time points corresponding to peak apoptotic response in TK6, WTK-1, B310, and B310-E6, that these cell lines show marked decreases in mitochondrial transmembrane potential and increases in cytochrome c within the cytosolic fraction of MNNG-treated cells. Consistent with these events, we observed that both caspase-9 and -3 are activated in our panel of lymphoblastoid cells after MNNG exposure. We also found, using both broad spectrum and specific inhibitors, that blocking caspase activity in TK-6 and B310 cells had a significant effect on apoptotic advance, but that this treatment had no effect on entry of WTK-1 or B310-E6 cells into apoptosis. Finally, the PARP inhibitors benzamide and 6(5H)-phenanthridinone exerted notable inhibition of PARP activity and the nuclear translocation of the mitochondrial protein AIF (apoptosis-inducing factor) in MNNG-treated cells; however, these compounds exhibited no detectable inhibitory effects on MNNG-induced death in human lymphoblastoid cells. These observations suggest that PARP activity is not required during MNNG-triggered apoptosis in this cell type. Taken together, our observations support the conclusion that MNNG activates multiple apoptogenic pathways that contain both common and unique mechanisms.
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PMID:The monofunctional alkylating agent N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine triggers apoptosis through p53-dependent and -independent pathways. 1558 79

Although compound K (CK), an intestinal metabolite of ginseng protopanaxadiol saponins, has been known to induce apoptosis in various cancer cells, association of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) with apoptosis in HT-29 colon cancer cells remains unclear. We hypothesized that CK may exert an anticancer activity through modulating the AMPK pathway in HT-29 cells. CK-induced apoptosis was associated with the disruption of the mitochondrial membrane potential, release of apoptogenic factors (cytochrome c and apoptosis-inducing factor) from mitochondria, and cleavage of caspase-9, caspase-3, caspase-8, Bid, and PARP proteins. This apoptotic effect of CK on colon cancer cells was found to be initiated by AMPK activation, and AMPK was activated through phosphorylation by Ca2+/calmodulin-activated protein kinase-IV (CAMK-IV). Treatment of HT-29 cells with compound C (AMPK inhibitor) or siRNA for AMPK completely abolished the CK-induced apoptosis. STO-609, CAMKs inhibitor, also attenuated CK-induced AMPK activation and apoptosis. In conclusion, the present study demonstrates that CK-mediated cell death of HT-29 colon cancer cells is regulated by CAMK-IV/AMPK pathways, and these findings provide a molecular basis for the anticancer effect of CK.
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PMID:Compound K induces apoptosis via CAMK-IV/AMPK pathways in HT-29 colon cancer cells. 1984 53