Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UNIPROT:P42574 (caspase-3)
 45,978 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

We investigated the signal transduction pathway to low-dose radiation-induced apoptosis in vitro in the human peripheral primitive neuroectodermal tumor (pPNET) cell line with wild-type p53 established in our laboratory. Apoptosis was induced by 2Gy irradiation in an almost p53-dependent manner in this model except for a deficiency of the cleavage of caspase-9. It was detected 3 hours after irradiation by fragmentation assay. The expressions of p53, p21WAF-1 and Bax increased, in contrast to the gradually decreasing expression of Bcl-2, as observed by immunoblotting. Following this, cleavages of caspase-3 and PARP reached peak levels. There were no detectable increases in ERK expression and caspase-9 cleavage. In respect of the probability of other pathways to apoptosis, this cell line will provide a useful model both for investigating low-dose radiation-induced signal transduction pathway and for analyzing the biological characteristics of pPNET.
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PMID:Signal transduction pathway to low-dose radiation-induced apoptosis in peripheral PNET cells. 1252 90

Peripheral primitive neuroectodermal tumour (PNET)/Ewing's sarcoma (ES) and neuroblastoma (NB) are related tumours of neural crest origin with primitive neural characteristics. Fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2) is a critical signalling molecule for primitive neural crest cells. The treatment of NB cells with FGF2 variably affects biological characteristics such as growth and differentiation, while in PNET/ES, FGF2 predominantly induces apoptosis. The JK-GMS Askin tumour cell line can be induced to differentiate upon treatment with nerve growth factor (NGF), indicating the integrity of the cellular machinery necessary for differentiation. The present study assesses whether FGF2 can induce differentiation in JK-GMS cells. JK-GMS cells expressed high-affinity FGF receptors (FGFRs), and treatment with FGF2 induced phosphorylation of FGFR1 together with activation of extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERK1/ERK2) and c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK). Subsequent biological effects were growth inhibition, neuronal differentiation, and apoptosis, and these changes were associated with increased expression of neurofilaments, reduction of c-myc and bcl-2 expression, and activation of caspase 3. Treatment of the cells with a specific inhibitor of the MAPK/extracellular signal-regulated kinase (MEK)-1, PD98059, predominantly inhibited the effects of FGF2 on growth, differentiation, and apoptosis, while an inhibitor of JNK reduced apoptosis, indicating that the ERK1/2 and JNK pathways are critical components of FGF2-mediated effects in JK-GMS cells. Additional comparative analyses of FGF2-mediated effects in two ES cell lines (CADO-ES, RD-ES) and a PNET cell line (SK-N-MC) showed pronounced differentiation in SK-N-MC, but not in CADO-ES or RD-ES cells. This study demonstrates that FGF2 can induce neuronal differentiation of PNET including Askin tumour. These findings clearly indicate that the FGF2-mediated signalling pathway plays a critical role in controlling the major properties of PNET cells and may provide a potential therapeutic target for PNET.
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PMID:Fibroblast growth factor 2 induces differentiation and apoptosis of Askin tumour cells. 1469 27

Arsenic trioxide (As(2)O(3)) induces both the differentiation and apoptosis of acute promyelocytic leukemia cells in a concentration dependent manner. We assessed the effects of As(2)O(3) in CADO-ES Ewing's sarcoma (ES), JK-GMS peripheral primitive neuroectodermal tumor (PNET), and SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells, as they share common histogenetic backgrounds. As(2)O(3) at low concentrations (0.1-1 microM) induced SH-SY5Y differentiation, and whereas PNET cells acquired a slightly differentiated phenotype, change was minimal in ES cells. Extracellular signal-regulated kinase 2 (ERK2) was activated at low As(2)O(3) concentrations, and PD98059, an inhibitor of MEK-1, blocked SH-SY5Y cell differentiation by As(2)O(3). High concentrations (2-10 microM) of As(2)O(3) induced the apoptosis in all three cell lines, and this was accompanied by the activation of c-jun N-terminal kinase. The generation of H(2)O(2) and activation of caspase 3 were identified as critical components of As(2)O(3)-induced apoptosis in all of the above cell lines. Fibroblast growth factor 2 enhanced As(2)O(3)-induced apoptosis in JK-GMS cells. The overall effects of As(2)O(3) strongly suggest that it has therapeutic potential for the treatment of ES/PNET.
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PMID:Arsenic trioxide concentration determines the fate of Ewing's sarcoma family tumors and neuroblastoma cells in vitro. 1693 May 95