Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UNIPROT:P10415 (Bcl-2)
 33,771 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Members of the the Bcl-2 and ICE/ced-3 gene families have been implicated as essential components in the control of the cell death pathway. Bcl-2 overexpression can prevent programmed cell death (PCD) in different cell types. ICE/ced-3-like proteases are synthesized as pro-enzymes and are activated by limited proteolysis. When overexpressed in diverse cell types, they trigger PCD. Bcl-2 can inhibit PCD mediated by these proteases, although as yet it is not clear at what specific step in the cell death pathway the protein acts. Here, we demonstrate that CPP32/Yama/Apopain, a member of the ICE/Ced-3 gene family, is processed during staurosporine-induced apoptosis in HeLa cells and that concomitant with CPP32 activation, two other proteins, poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) and the U1-70 K small ribonucleoprotein, also undergo proteolysis. Overexpression of Bcl-2 prevents cleavage of CPP32, PARP and U1-70 K and protects HeLa cells from PCD. These results demonstrate that Bcl-2 controls PCD, by acting upstream of CPP32/Yama/Apopain.
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PMID:Bcl-2 prevents activation of CPP32 cysteine protease and cleavage of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase and U1-70 kD proteins in staurosporine-mediated apoptosis. 1646 8

Because of unsatisfactory treatment options for prostate cancer (CaP) there is a need to develop novel preventive approaches for this malignancy. One such strategy is through chemoprevention by the use of non-toxic dietary substances and botanical products. We have shown previously that panduratin A isolated from the extract of Kaempferia pandurata (Zingiberaceae) is a strong inhibitor of cyclooxygenase-2 in RAW264.7 cells and induces apoptosis in HT-29 cells. In the present study, we provide evidence that panduratin A treatment to androgen-independent human CaP cells PC3 and DU145 result in a time and dose-dependent inhibition of cell growth with an IC50 of 13.5-14 microM and no to little effect on normal human prostate epithelial cells. To define the mechanism of these anti-proliferative effects of panduratin A, we determined its effect on critical molecular events known to regulate the cell cycle and the apoptotic machinery. Annexin V/propidium iodide staining provided the evidence for the induction of apoptosis which was further confirmed by the observation of cleavage of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase and degradation of acinus. Panduratin A treatment to cells was found to result in inhibition of procaspases 9, 8, 6 and 3 with significant increase in the ratio of Bax:Bcl-2, suggesting the involvement of a mitochondrial-dependent apoptotic pathway. Panduratin A-mediated apoptosis was accompanied with upregulation of Fas death receptor and TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL). Furthermore, cell cycle analysis using flow cytometry showed that panduratin A treatment of cells resulted in a G2/M arrest in a dose-dependent manner. The immunoblot analysis data revealed that in both cell lines panduratin A treatment resulted in a dose-dependent (i) induction of p21WAF1/Cip1 and p27Kip1, (ii) downregulation of cdks 2, 4 and 6 and (iii) decrease in cyclins D1 and E. These findings suggest that panduratin A may be an effective chemopreventive or therapeutic agent against CaP.
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PMID:Induction of apoptosis and cell cycle arrest by a chalcone panduratin A isolated from Kaempferia pandurata in androgen-independent human prostate cancer cells PC3 and DU145. 1649 6

The strategies available for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer are limited. Dietary botanicals may have a better protective effect on this disease. We therefore investigated the effects of grape seed proanthocyanidins (GSPs) on a highly metastatic mouse mammary carcinoma cell line. In vitro treatment of breast cancer cells, 4T1, MCF-7 and MDA-MB-468, with GSPs resulted in significant inhibition of cellular proliferation and viability, and induction of apoptosis in 4T1 cells in a time- and dose-dependent manner. Further analysis indicated an alteration in the ratio of Bax/Bcl-2 proteins in favor of apoptosis, and the knockdown of Bax using Bax siRNA transfection of 4T1 cells resulted in blocking of GSPs-induced apoptosis. Induction of apoptosis was associated with the release of cytochrome c, increased expression of Apaf-1 and activation of caspase 3 and poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase. Treatment with the pan-caspase inhibitor (Z-VAD-FMK) resulted in partial but significant inhibition of apoptosis in 4T1 cells suggesting the involvement of both caspase activation-dependent and activation-independent pathways in the apoptosis of 4T1 cells induced by GSPs. The effects of dietary GSPs were then examined using an in vivo model in which 4T1 cells were implanted subcutaneously in Balb/c mice. Dietary GSPs (0.2 and 0.5%, w/w) significantly inhibited the growth of the implanted 4T1 tumor cells and increased the ratio of Bax:Bcl-2 proteins, cytochrome c release, induction of Apaf-1 and activation of caspase 3 in the tumor microenvironment. Notably, the metastasis of tumor cells to the lungs was inhibited significantly and the survival of the mice enhanced. These data suggest that GSPs possess chemotherapeutic efficacy against breast cancer including inhibition of metastasis.
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PMID:Grape seed proanthocyanidins induce apoptosis and inhibit metastasis of highly metastatic breast carcinoma cells. 1659 45

Aurora-A kinase, a serine/threonine protein kinase, is a potential oncogene. Amplification and overexpression of Aurora-A have been found in several types of human tumors, including esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). It has been demonstrated that cells overexpressing Aurora-A are more resistant to cisplatin-induced apoptosis. However, the molecular mechanisms mediating these effects remain largely unknown. In this report, we showed that overexpression of Aurora-A through stable transfection of pEGFP-Aurora-A in human ESCC KYSE150 cells significantly promoted cell proliferation and inhibited cisplatin- or UV irradiation-induced apoptosis. Cleavages of caspase-3 and poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) in Aurora-A overexpressing cells were substantially reduced after cisplatin or UV treatment. Furthermore, we found that silencing of endogenous Aurora-A kinase with siRNA substantially enhanced sensitivity to cisplatin- or UV-induced apoptosis in human ESCC EC9706 cells. In parallel, overexpression of Aurora-A potently upregulated the expression of Bcl-2. Moreover, the knockdown of Bcl-2 by siRNA abrogated the Aurora-A's effect on inhibiting apoptosis. Taken together, these data provide evidence that Aurora-A overexpression promoting cell proliferation and inhibiting apoptosis, suggesting a novel mechanism that is closely related to malignant phenotype and anti-cancer drugs resistance of ESCC cells.
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PMID:Overexpression of Aurora-A kinase promotes tumor cell proliferation and inhibits apoptosis in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma cell line. 1661 31

Chemotherapeutic approach using non-toxic botanicals may be one of the strategies for the management of the skin cancers. Here we report that in vitro treatment of human epidermoid carcinoma A431 cells with berberine, a naturally occurring isoquinoline alkaloid, decreased cell viability (3-77%, P < 0.05-0.001) and induced cell death (3-51%, P < 0.01-0.001) in a dose (5-75 microM)- and time (12-72 h)-dependent manner, which was associated with an increase in G(1) arrest. G(0)/G(1) phase of the cell cycle is known to be controlled by cyclin dependent kinases (Cdk), cyclin kinase inhibitors (Cdki) and cyclins. Our western blot analysis showed that berberine-induced G(1) cell cycle arrest was mediated through the increased expression of Cdki proteins (Cip1/p21 and Kip1/p27), a simultaneous decrease in Cdk2, Cdk4, Cdk6 and cyclins D1, D2 and E and enhanced binding of Cdki-Cdk. In additional studies, treatment of A431 cells with berberine (15-75 microM) for 72 h resulted in a significant dose-dependent increase in apoptosis (31-60%, P < 0.05-0.001) than non-berberine-treated control (11.7%), which was associated with an increased expression of pro-apoptotic protein Bax, decreased expression of anti-apoptotic proteins Bcl-2 and Bcl-xl, disruption of mitochondrial membrane potential, and activation of caspases 9, 3 and poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase. Pretreatment of A431 cells with the pan-caspase inhibitor (z-VAD-fmk) significantly blocked the berberine-induced apoptosis in A431 cells confirmed that berberine-induced apoptosis is mediated through activation of caspase 3-dependent pathway. Together, this study for the first time identified berberine as a chemotherapeutic agent against human epidermoid carcinoma A431 cells in vitro, further in vivo studies are required to determine whether berberine could be an effective chemotherapeutic agent for the management of non-melanoma skin cancers.
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PMID:Berberine inhibits growth, induces G1 arrest and apoptosis in human epidermoid carcinoma A431 cells by regulating Cdki-Cdk-cyclin cascade, disruption of mitochondrial membrane potential and cleavage of caspase 3 and PARP. 2972 75

Toona sinensis (T. sinensis), well known in Taiwan as a traditional Chinese medicine, has been shown to exhibit antioxidant effects. In this study, therefore, the ability of T. sinensis to induce apoptosis was studied in cultured human premyelocytic leukemia HL-60 cells. Treatment of the HL-60 cells with a variety of concentrations of the aqueous extracts of T. sinensis (TS extracts) (10-75 microg/ml) and gallic acid (5-10 microg/ml), the natural phenolic components purified from TS extracts, resulted in dose- and time-dependent sequences of events marked by apoptosis, as shown by loss of cell viability and internucleosomal DNA fragmentation. Furthermore, apoptosis in the HL-60 cells was accompanied by the release of cytochrome c, caspase 3 activation and specific proteolytic cleavage of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP). This increase in TS extracts- and gallic acid-induced apoptosis was also associated with a reduction in the levels of Bcl-2, a potent cell-death inhibitor, and an increase in those of the Bax protein, which heterodimerizes with and thereby inhibits Bcl-2. Interestingly, TS extracts- and gallic acid-induced dose-dependent reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation in HL-60 cells. We found that catalase significantly decreased TS extracts- or gallic acid-induced cytotoxicity, DNA fragmentation, and ROS production, however, slight reduction was observed with vitamins C and E. Our results indicate that TS extracts- or gallic acid-induced HL-60 apoptotic cell death could be due to the generation of ROS, especially H(2)O(2). The data suggest that T. sinensis exerts antiproliferative action and growth inhibition on HL-60 cells through apoptosis induction, and, therefore, that it may have anticancer properties valuable for application in food and drug products.
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PMID:Toona sinensis extracts induces apoptosis via reactive oxygen species in human premyelocytic leukemia cells. 1694 58

25-Hydroxy-3-oxoolean-12-en-28-oic acid (Amooranin-AMR) is a triterpene acid isolated from the stem bark of a tropical tree (Amoora rohituka) grown wild in India. A herbal preparation used for the treatment of cancer by the Ayurvedic system of medicine contains the stem bark of Amoora rohituka as one of the ingredients. In this paper, we show that AMR displays a strong inhibitory effect on survival of human breast carcinoma MDA-468, breast adenocarcinoma MCF-7 cells compared to breast epithelial MCF-10A control cells. A 50% decrease in cells (IC50) ranged from 1.8 to 14.6 microM and cell growth was suppressed by arresting cell cycle at G2 + M phase. AMR effectively induces apoptosis and triggered a series of effects associated with apoptosis including cleavage of caspase-8, -9, -3, Bid and ER stress in MDA-468 cells and caspase- 8, -9, -6 and Bid in MCF-7 cells, release of cytochrome c from the mitochondria, cleavage of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) and DNA fragmentation with a concomitant upregulation of p53, Bax and down-regulation of Bcl-2 in MDA-468 cells, but Bax unchanged in MCF-7 cells. The use of caspase blocking peptides and acridine orange staining confirmed the involvement of primarily caspase-9 and -3 in MDA-468 cells with mutated p53 and primarily caspase-8, -9 and -6 in MCF-7 cells expressing wt p53. We also observed in MCF-7/p53siRNA cells AMR treatment caused reduced expression of Bcl-2 without affecting levels of Bax similar to MCF-7 cells treated with AMR and proteolytic activation of Bax in MDA-468 cells. These results suggest that AMR induces apoptosis in human breast carcinoma cells via caspase activation pathway and likely it is a p53-independent apoptosis.
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PMID:Novel triterpenoid 25-hydroxy-3-oxoolean-12-en-28-oic acid induces growth arrest and apoptosis in breast cancer cells. 1702 90

Cocaine inhibits survival and growth of rat locus coeruleus (LC) neurons, which may mediate alterations in attention, following in utero exposure to cocaine. These effects are most severe in early gestation during peak neuritogenesis. Prenatal cocaine exposure may specifically decrease LC survival through an apoptotic pathway involving caspases. Dissociated fetal LC neurons or substantia nigra (SN) neurons (control) were exposed in vitro to a pharmacologically active dose of cocaine hydrochloride (500 ng/ml) and assayed for apoptosis using terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase mediated DNA nick end labeling and Hoechst methodologies. Cocaine exposure decreased survival and induced apoptosis in LC neurons, with no changes in survival of SN neurons. Activation of apoptotic signal transduction proteins was determined using enzyme assays and immunoblotting at 30 min, 1 h, 4 h and 24 h. In LC neurons, Bax levels were induced at 30 min and 1 h, following cocaine treatment, and Bcl-2 levels remained unchanged at all time points, altering the Bax/Bcl-2 ratio. The ratio was reversed for SN neurons (elevated Bcl-2 levels and transient reduction of Bax levels). Further, cocaine exposure significantly increased caspase-9 and caspase-3 activities at all time points, without changes in caspase-8 activity in LC neurons. In addition, cleavage of caspase-3 target proteins, alpha-fodrin and poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) were observed following cocaine treatment. In contrast, SN neurons showed either significant reductions, or no significant changes, in caspase-3, -8 or -9 activities or caspase-3 target proteins, alpha-fodrin and PARP. Thus, cocaine exposure in vitro may preferentially induce apoptosis in fetal LC neurons putatively regulated by Bax, via activation of caspases and their downstream target proteins.
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PMID:Cocaine exposure in vitro induces apoptosis in fetal locus coeruleus neurons by altering the Bax/Bcl-2 ratio and through caspase-3 apoptotic signaling. 1708 83

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma (PPAR-gamma) is a transcription factor important in fat metabolism and PPAR-gamma agonists were recently demonstrated to affect proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis of different cell types. In the present study, two PPAR-gamma agonists, 15-deoxy-delta (12,14)-prostaglandin J2 (15d-PGJ2) and a synthetic PPAR-gamma agonist troglitazone (TGZ), were used to investigate activated PPAR-gamma-induced apoptosis on human monocyte leukemia U937 and Mono Mac 6 cells in vitro. The results showed that both U937 and Mono Mac 6 cells demonstrated constitutive activation of COX-2 expression; treatment by 15d-PGJ2 and TGZ could induce apoptosis remarkably in human monocyte leukemia cells by disruption of mitochondrial membrane potential, activation of caspase-3, and causing cleavage of the caspase substrate poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP). Further studies revealed that treatment by both 15d-PGJ2 and TGZ remarkably downregulated COX-2 expression in these two kind of monocyte leukemia cells as measured by reverse transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR) and Western blot. Furthermore, the expression of Bcl-2 and Bcl-Xl and Mcl-1 was downregulated while Bax expression was upregulated concurrently after the cells were treated by these two agonists, and no variations were found in other Bcl-2 family members such as Bak, Bid, and Bad. Taken together, our results demonstrate for the first time that downregulation of cyclooxygenase-2 expression, disruption of mitochondrial membrane potential, activation of caspase-3, downregulation of Bcl-2, Bcl-Xl, and Mcl-1, and upregulation of Bax are involved in PPAR-gamma agonists-induced apoptosis in these two human monocyte leukemia cells.
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PMID:Downregulation of cyclooxygenase-2 expression and activation of caspase-3 are involved in peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma agonists induced apoptosis in human monocyte leukemia cells in vitro. 1708 25

We demonstrated here for the first time that zerumbone (ZER), a natural cyclic sesquiterpene, significantly suppressed the proliferation of promyelocytic leukemia NB4 cells among several leukemia cell lines, but not human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs), by inducing G2/M cell cycle arrest followed by apoptosis with 10 microM of IC50. Treatment of NB4 cells with growth-suppressive concentrations of ZER resulted in G2/M cell cycle arrest that was associated with a decline of Cyclin B1 protein, but with the phosphorylation of ATM/ Chk1/Chk2. In addition, ZER induced the phosphorylation of Cdc25C at the Thr48 residue and Cdc2 at the Thr14/Tyr15 residues. Furthermore, ZER-induced apoptosis in NB4 cells was initiated by the expression of Fas (CD95)/Fas Ligand (CD95L), concomitant with the activation of caspase-8. ZER was also found to induce the cleavage of Bid, a mediator that is known to connect the Fas/CD95 cell death receptor to the mitochondrial apoptosis pathway. ZER also induced the cleavage of Bax and Mcl-1 proteins, but not Bcl-2 or Bcl-XL. ZER-induced apoptosis took place in association with a loss of the mitochondrial transmembrane potential as well as the activation of caspase-3 and -9, resulting in the degradation of the proteolytic poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP). ZER also triggered a release of cytochrome c into the cytoplasm. Both antagonistic anti-Fas antibody ZB4 and pan-caspase inhibitor Z-VAD inhibited ZER-induced apoptosis in NB4 cells. Taken together, ZER is an inducer of apoptosis in leukemic cells that specifically triggers the Fas/CD95- and mitochondria-mediated apoptotic signaling pathway.
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PMID:Zerumbone, a bioactive sesquiterpene, induces G2/M cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in leukemia cells via a Fas- and mitochondria-mediated pathway. 1712 59


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