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)

Alveolar epithelial cell injury and apoptosis is consistent findings in human idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Epithelial cell apoptosis is known to be induced by leukocyte elastase in vitro. The authors hypothesized that synthetic neutrophil elastase inhibitor, sivelestat (ONO-5046), can inhibit the bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis in rats by blocking the apoptotic pathways in epithelial cells. Adult rats were injected with intratracheal bleomycin. Sivelestat was given for 13 days intraperitoneally after bleomycin treatments. Similar experiments were carried out in which A549 cells, a human alveolar type II epithelial cell line, were treated with bleomycin or neutrophil elastase. In rats, sivelestat decreased neutrophil counts and the cytokine-induced neutrophil chemoattractant (CINC)-1 in the bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid of bleomycin-treated rats. Sivelestat also decreased the bleomycin-induced lung inflammatory cell apoptosis by decreasing caspase-3 and -9 activities. In A549 cells, sivelestat decreased the elastase-induced epithelial cell apoptosis but not the bleomycin-induced epithelial cell apoptosis. Similarly, sivelestat inhibited the elastase-induced cell death but not the bleomycin-induced cell death in MTT assays. Sivelestat also inhibited the elastase-induced caspase-3 and -9 activities and cytochrome c release from the mitochondria but did not inhibit the bleomycin-induced caspase activities in A549 cells. In conclusion, bleomycin caused the lung inflammatory cell apoptosis through the caspase-9 and -3 pathways in rats. Sivelestat inhibited pulmonary fibrosis by blocking these mitochondria-mediated apoptotic pathways in bleomycin-treated rats and in elastase-treated A549 cells. These findings suggest that sivelestat can suppress the bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis by blocking neutrophil chemotaxis and by inhibiting the neutrophil elastase-induced lung cell apoptosis in rats.
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PMID:Effects of elastase inhibitor on the epithelial cell apoptosis in bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis. 1999 76

BACKGROUND.: A neutrophil elastase (NE) inhibitor, Sivelestat, has been approved for the treatment of acute lung injury associated with systemic inflammation in humans. Some reports have also shown its protective effects in liver inflammatory states. We have recently documented the importance of NE in the pathophysiology of liver ischemia/reperfusion injury, a local Ag-independent inflammation response. This study was designed to explore putative cytoprotective functions of clinically available Sivelestat in liver ischemia/reperfusion injury. METHODS.: Partial warm ischemia was produced in the left and middle hepatic lobes of C57BL/6 mice for 90 min, followed by 6 or 24 hr of reperfusion. The mice were given Sivelestat (100 mg/kg, subcutaneous) at 10 min before ischemia, 10 min before reperfusion, and at 1 and 3 hr of reperfusion thereafter. RESULTS.: Sivelestat treatment significantly reduced serum alanine aminotransferase levels and NE activity, when compared with controls. Histological liver examination has revealed that unlike in controls, Sivelestat ameliorated the hepatocellular damage and decreased local neutrophil activity and infiltration. The expression of proinflammatory cytokines (tumor necrosis factor-alpha and interleukin-6), chemokines (CXCL-1, CXCL-2, and CXCL-10), and toll-like receptor 4 was significantly reduced in the treatment group, along with diminished apoptosis through caspase-3 pathway. Moreover, in vitro studies confirmed downregulation of proinflammatory cytokine and chemokine programs in mouse macrophage cell cultures, along with depression of innate toll-like receptor 4 signaling. CONCLUSION.: Sivelestat-mediated NE inhibition may represent an effective therapeutic option in liver transplantation and other inflammation disease states.
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PMID:The protective function of neutrophil elastase inhibitor in liver ischemia/reperfusion injury. 2068 30