Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0027651 (tumor)
 685,946 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Killing of target cells by cytotoxic T cells is mediated by induction of apoptosis requiring functional death pathways. Kill is mediated either by the CD95 or the perforin/granzyme pathway. We found that SH-EP neuroblastoma cells are preferentially killed via CD95, while in the T leukemia cell line CEM CD95 and perforin/granzyme are involved. In both types of cell lines, cells resistant to CD95- and drug-induced apoptosis are crossresistant to cytotoxic T cell kill. Resistant cells show decreased apoptosis and deficient activation of caspases indicated by decreased cleavage of the prototype caspase substrate PARP. Preincubation with the caspase inhibitor zVAD-fmk strongly decreased LAK cell kill in sensitive cells. Although parental CEM cells could be sensitized for LAK kill by preincubation with doxorubicin, resistance could not be reverted in doxorubicin or CD95 resistant CEM cells. These data demonstrate the crossresistance in induction of apoptosis by different cytotoxic regimens in tumor cells and may have implications for the immunotherapy of tumors in which apoptosis resistance was induced by previous chemotherapy.
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PMID:Decreased sensitivity of drug-resistant cells towards T cell cytotoxicity. 1008 32

Though p53-induced apoptosis plays an important role in tumor suppression, the mechanism(s) by which p53 induces apoptosis is still unclear. To elucidate the p53-induced apoptotic pathway, we examined the role of p53 transactivation activity and caspase in J138V5C cells carrying a human temperature-sensitive (ts) p53 mutant (138Ala-->Val). The results showed that p53-induced apoptosis was not blocked by cycloheximide, which effectively prevented the expression of p53 target genes, indicating that transactivation was not essential for p53-induced apoptosis in this system. Western blot analysis showed that PARP, CPP32 and ICH-1 precursors were cleaved during apoptosis. The CPP32-preferential tetrapeptide inhibitor Ac-DEVD-CHO blocked the cleavage of ICH-1 and PARP precursors, suggesting that CPP32 or some other DEVD-sensitive caspase(s) is the upstream activator of ICH-1. We also examined the role of the Fas pathway by using Fas and Fas ligand-neutralizing antibodies. Both antibodies failed to block p53-induced apoptosis, suggesting that the Fas pathway was not essential for p53-induced apoptosis in this system. Taken together, our results indicate that p53-induced, transactivation-independent apoptosis in Jurkat cells involves sequential activation of CPP32 or some other DEVD-sensitive caspase(s) and ICH-1, via a Fas-independent pathway.
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PMID:Activation of caspases in p53-induced transactivation-independent apoptosis. 1018 88

Tumor necrosis factor (TNF) signal transduction is a complex process involving activation of receptor-linked and stress-sensitive signaling cascades that stimulate apoptosis in some tumor cell lines. Initial studies suggested that these signaling events cooperatively induced TNF responses, but recent studies suggest that some of these signals antagonize the apoptotic response or play no discernible role in cell death. As TNF induces cellular stress and activates several stress-sensitive cascades that may play a role in apoptosis, TNF-induced stress signaling was examined in MCF-7 cells and compared with a variant MCF-7 cell line resistant to TNF-mediated apoptosis (MCF-7/3E9). TNF rapidly stimulated both NF-kappaB and JNK activation in MCF-7 and MCF-7/3E9 cells, but JNK activation was significantly reduced (threefold) in apoptotically resistant cells. TNF also stimulated p53, p21WAF1, and Bax accumulation with subsequent PARP cleavage and nucleosomal DNA laddering in MCF-7 cells but did not stimulate these processes in MCF-7/3E9 cells. Importantly, 3E9 cells retained wild-type p53 function, induced p21WAF1 in response to DNA damage, and expressed almost equal sensitivity to other stress stimuli (gamma-radiation, chemotherapeutic agents) as parental MCF-7 cells. These results suggest that selective defects in TNF-activated stress cascades are associated with reduced sensitivity to TNF but not other cell death stimuli. Loss of potent TNF-mediated activation of JNK and p53 cascades may permit tumor cells to evade receptor-mediated apoptosis but have only limited influence on cellular sensitivity to other agents that effectively engage these stress pathways.
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PMID:JNK and p53 stress signaling cascades are altered in MCF-7 cells resistant to tumor necrosis factor-mediated apoptosis. 1021 65

Caspace-mediated proteolysis of the nuclear enzyme poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) (EC 2.4, 2.30) is a biochemical marker of cell death in response to various apoptotic stimuli. Anti-PARP antibodies identifying the 89 kDa polypeptide from the C-terminus as well as the 113 kDa native enzyme are often used to demonstrate evidence of apoptosis-associated, interleukin converting enzyme (ICE)-mediated limited cleavage. Recent evidence points to redundancy of caspases, heterogeneity of their cleavage sites, and a possibility of generating distinct context-specific, and cell-specific PARP fragments. In the present study, we employed antibodies directed to multiple sites in PARP and probed two-dimensionally resolved proteins of the estrogen receptor negative MDA-MB-468 breast tumor cells, induced to undergo apoptosis by ionizing radiation (IR). Our results revealed that the 24 kDa apoptotic fragment of PARP, from the N-terminus, consists of at least three isoforms, located at a p/more basic than the full length enzyme. We also report a hitherto unrecognized feature of an anti-PARP antiserum, VIC-5, detecting both the 89 kDa and the 24 kDa caspase-generated fragments of PARP. Thus, application of two-dimensional electrophoresis combined with antisera directed to multiple sites would be valuable in distinguishing PARP cleavage site- and inhibitor specificities of proteases during apoptosis.
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PMID:Detection of heterogeneity of apoptotic fragments of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase in MDA-MB-468 breast cancer cells: two-dimensional gel analysis. 1021 78

Aging is associated with altered immune function. We previously reported that splenocytes and thymocytes undergo apoptosis with aging in rats. In the present study, we examined the expression of genes associated with apoptosis in splenocytes and thymus in aging rats. We evaluated the expression of bax, interleukin 1-beta-converting enzyme (ICE)/ced-3 protease family, caspase-3 and tumor suppressor gene p53. Rats in age groups of 6, 24, 48, and 96 weeks were sacrificed; thymocytes and splenocytes were isolated followed by lysis in a modified RIPA buffer containing protease inhibitors. Western blot analysis of proteins was performed by probing immunoblots with antibodies against p53, bax and PARP (poly ADP-ribose polymerase). Increased aging was associated with enhanced expression of bax, p53 and cleavage of PARP by Caspase-3. The expression of p53 and cleavage of PARP indicates the presence of damaged DNA; nevertheless, the cleavage of PARP or activation of caspase-3 may be playing an important role in the initiation of early events in apoptosis. These results suggest that aging of splenocytes and thymocytes is associated with the expression of cell death genes. The present study provides an insight into age-associated altered immune function.
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PMID:Aging splenocyte and thymocyte apoptosis is associated with enhanced expression of p53, bax, and caspase-3. 1032 82

Malignant brain tumors are the most common solid tumors in children. The overall prognosis for this group of patients is still poor, emphasizing the importance of more effective therapies. Betulinic acid (Bet A) has been described as a novel cytotoxic compound active against melanoma and neuroblastoma cells. Here we report that Bet A was active against medulloblastoma and glioblastoma cell lines. In addition, Bet A exerted cytotoxic activity against primary tumor cells cultured from patients in 4 of 4 medulloblastoma-tumor samples tested and in 20 of 24 glioblastoma-tumor samples. Since a small percentage of primary-glioblastoma-tumor cells (4/24) did not respond to Bet-A treatment, resistance to Bet A might occur. Induction of apoptosis by Bet A involved mitochondrial perturbations, since inhibition of the mitochondrial permeability transition by the mitochondrion-specific inhibitor bongkrekic acid (BA) reduced Bet-A-induced apoptosis. In addition, mitochondria undergoing Bet-A-induced permeability transition triggered DNA fragmentation in isolated nuclei. Cytochrome c was released from mitochondria of Bet-A-treated cells, and might be involved in activation of caspases. Following treatment with Bet A, caspase-8, caspase-3 and PARP were proteolytically processed. Inhibition of caspase cleavage by the broad-range caspase inhibitor zVAD.fmk strongly reduced Bet-A-induced apoptosis, indicating that apoptosis was mediated by activation of caspases. Since Bet A did not exhibit cytotoxicity against murine neuronal cells in vitro, these findings suggest that Bet A may be a promising new agent for the treatment of medulloblastoma and glioblastoma cells that clearly warrants further pre-clinical and clinical evaluation.
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PMID:Betulinic acid: a new cytotoxic agent against malignant brain-tumor cells. 1039 62

The retinoblastoma tumor suppressor protein (RB) has been shown to play a role in regulating the eukaryotic cell cycle, promoting cellular differentiation, and modulating programmed cell death. Although regulation of RB tumor suppressor activity is mediated by reversible phosphorylation, an additional posttranslational modification involves the cleavage of 42 residues from the carboxy terminus of RB during the onset of drug-induced or receptor-mediated apoptosis. We now demonstrate that a recombinant p100cl RB species localizes to the nucleus where it may retain wildtype "pocket" protein binding activity. In addition, using immunocytochemistry, we show that cleavage of the endogenous RB protein occurs in vivo in human cells and that p100cl is predominantly retained within the nuclear compartment of cells during early apoptosis. We also show that the carboxy-terminal cleavage of RB is detected immediately following caspase-3 and PARP cleavage during FAS-mediated apoptosis of MCF10 cells. These findings suggest that this cleavage event may be a component of a downstream cascade during programmed cell death.
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PMID:The 100-kDa proteolytic fragment of RB is retained predominantly within the nuclear compartment of apoptotic cells. 1042 29

Ewing's sarcoma (EWS) cells accumulate elevated steady-state levels of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) mRNA and protein. To understand the molecular mechanisms underlying PARP upregulation, we cloned and analysed the 5'-flanking region of the PARP gene from EWS cells. Nucleotide sequence analysis demonstrated no variations in the PARP promoter region in EWS cells. The PARP promoter encompasses multiple binding motifs for the ETS transcription factor. We have also observed that there is a coordinated up-regulation of the expression of both PARP and ETS1, relative to cells of other human tumor types expressing lower levels of PARP. Transient co-expression of ETS1 in EWS cells resulted in a strong enhancement of PARP-promoter activity. The participation of ETS in the regulation of PARP gene expression was further demonstrated in EWS cells stably transfected with Ets1 antisense cDNA constructs. Antisense-mediated down-regulation of endogenous ETS1 resulted in the inhibition of PARP expression in EWS cells, and sensitized these cells to ionizing radiation. These data provide support for ETS regulation of PARP expression levels, and implicate ETS transcription factors in the radiation response of EWS cells.
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PMID:Regulation of the human poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase promoter by the ETS transcription factor. 1043 18

Butyrate exerts potent anti-tumor effects by inhibiting cancer cell growth and inducing apoptosis. However, the molecular mechanisms mediating these effects remain largely unknown. Using the Caco-2 cell line, a well established model of colon cancer cells, our data show that butyrate induced apoptosis (maximum 79%) is mediated via activation of the caspase-cascade. A key event was the proteolytic activation of caspase-3, triggering degradation of poly-(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP). Inactivation of caspase-3 with the tetrapeptide zDEVD-FMK completely inhibited the apoptotic response to butyrate. In parallel, butyrate potently up-regulated the expression of the pro-apoptotic protein bak, without changing Caco-2 cell bcl-2 expression. Butyrate-induced Caco-2 cell apoptosis was completely blocked by the addition of cycloheximide, indicating the necessity of protein synthesis. However, when this inhibitor was added at a time point where bak expression was already enhanced (12 - 16 h after butyrate stimulation), it failed to protect Caco-2 cells against apoptosis. Taken together, these data provide evidence that the molecular events involved in butyrate induced colon cancer cell apoptosis include the caspase-cascade and the mitochondrial bcl-pathway.
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PMID:Butyrate mediates Caco-2 cell apoptosis via up-regulation of pro-apoptotic BAK and inducing caspase-3 mediated cleavage of poly-(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP). 1046 46

The tumor suppressor gene product p53 can bind to and inhibit the helicase activity of the multisubunit transcription-repair factor TFIIH. We previously reported that p53-mediated apoptosis is attenuated in primary human fibroblasts from individuals with Xeroderma Pigmentosum (XP) that harbor mutations in the TFIIH DNA helicases XPD or XPB. In this study we show that apoptosis is reduced and delayed in three XPD lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCLs), but not in an XPD heterozygote LCL, after exposure to doxorubicin, a DNA-damaging agent and topoisomerase II inhibitor frequently used in cancer therapy. Apoptosis was assessed by quantitation of Annexin V binding to exposed phosphatidylserine residues and by caspase-mediated cleavage of Poly(ADP)Ribose Polymerase (PARP). Apoptosis induced by doxorubicin was suppressed in LCLs retrovirally transduced with the Human Papillomavirus 16 E6 oncoprotein, consistent with the hypothesis that this is a p53-dependent process. PARP cleavage was not delayed in XPD LCLs in response to anti-Fas (CD95) antibody-mediated apoptosis, thus, the defect in the apoptotic pathway in these cells lies upstream of caspase activation. Similar changes in the expression of apoptosis-effector genes, p53, and p53-responsive genes p21Cip1/WAF-1/Sid1 (p21), gadd45, bcl-2 and bax were observed in normal and XPD LCLs after treatment with doxorubicin, indicating that delayed apoptosis was not a consequence of defective transcription of these genes. Thus, our studies provide further support to the hypothesis that XPD and p53 can functionally interact in a p53-mediated apoptotic pathway.
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PMID:Drug-induced apoptosis is delayed and reduced in XPD lymphoblastoid cell lines: possible role of TFIIH in p53-mediated apoptotic cell death. 1046 15


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