Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: EC:3.4.23.5 (cathepsin D)
 4,130 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Guinea pigs were exposed to silica dust (SiO2) aerosols at 6, 13, 28, and 46 mg/m3 for 3 weeks and examined 4, 8, 16, and 23 weeks later. Twenty-four milligrams of TiO2 per cubic meter served as the control dust. Lung weights were increased at 8 weeks and later. Free lung cells showed a tendency to decrease in phagocytosis capacity at 8 weeks after cessation of exposure and later. Alveolar macrophage production of N-acetyl-beta-D-glucosaminidase, cathepsin D, and acid phosphatase was decreased at 8 weeks after exposure and later. The relationship between the depressant effect on macrophages and the absence of an exposure-related polymorphonuclear neutrophil response for the development of fibrosis could be part of the mechanism behind fibrosis.
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PMID:Pulmonary macrophage phagocytosis and enzyme production after in vivo exposure to silica dust. 630 49

Although silica has been documented to cause apoptotic cell death, the cellular pathways leading to caspase activation have not been extensively investigated. Here we demonstrate in a mouse macrophage cell line (MH-S cells) that alpha-quartz silica exposure (12.5 mug/cm2 to 50 mug/cm2) elicited activation of both caspase 3 and caspase 9, whereas anatase titanium dioxide (TiO2), a non-fibrogenic particle, did not. Silica exposure in vitro also induced apoptosis after 6 h, as measured by the appearance of subdiploid cell fragments in a flow cytometric analysis. Exposure to TiO 2 did not elicit significant apoptosis. Silica-induced apoptosis and caspase 3 activation were, in part, caspase 9 dependent, as determined by their sensitivity to either a general caspase inhibitor (Z-VAD-FMK) or a specific caspase 9 inhibitor (Z-LEHD-FMK). Silica exposure in vitro also elicited significant mitochondrial depolarization after 2 and 6 h of exposure. Cyclosporin A, an inhibitor of the mitochondrial permeability pore, partially decreased mitochondrial depolarization, caspase 3 activation, and caspase 9 activation, suggesting a role for mitochondrial dysfunction in these events. Pepstatin A, an inhibitor of cathepsin D, also decreased mitochondrial depolarization, caspase 3 activation, and caspase 9 activation, whereas leupeptin, an inhibitor of cathepsin B, had no effect. These data suggest that short-term silica exposure in vitro induces both caspase 3 and caspase 9 activity, which appears to participate in apoptosis. Activation of these caspases seems to be dependent, in part, on aspartic proteolysis and loss of mitochondrial integrity.
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PMID:Silica-induced caspase activation in mouse alveolar macrophages is dependent upon mitochondrial integrity and aspartic proteolysis. 1461 16