UNIPROT:P42574 - FACTA Search

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Query: UNIPROT:P42574 (caspase-3)
45,978 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Neural precursor cells (NPCs) critically regulate brain morphogenesis and recent studies have revealed an unexpectedly high frequency of NPC chromosomal abnormalities and apoptosis in the developing brain. We have shown previously that the apoptotic response of NPCs to genotoxic agents is dependent on p53 and caspase-9, but not Bax or caspase-3 expression. In this study, we found that NPCs deficient in Apaf-1, or both the pro-apoptotic multidomain Bcl-2 family members Bax and Bak, were resistant to cytosine arabinoside and gamma-irradiation-induced apoptosis. Inhibitors of gene transcription, protein translation, and caspase activity also blocked genotoxin-induced NPC apoptosis. Although caspase-3 and caspase-6 were both cleaved in response to DNA damage, neither of these effector caspases was critical for apoptosis. Genotoxin-induced NPC death was accompanied by the generation of reactive oxygen species and could be inhibited by several known antioxidants. Conversely, DNA damage-induced reactive oxygen species generation was inhibited significantly by gene disruption of p53, Apaf-1, or caspase-9, and combined deficiency of Bax and Bak, but not by caspase-3 or caspase-6 deficiency. These studies suggest that caspase-9 activation is both necessary and sufficient for genotoxin-induced neural precursor cell reactive oxygen species generation and death.
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PMID:Caspase regulation of genotoxin-induced neural precursor cell death. 1459 20

The spectrin-actin scaffold underlying the lipid bilayer is considered to participate in cell-shape stabilization and in the organization of specialized membrane subdomains. These structures are dynamic and likely to undergo frequent remodelling during changes in cell shape. Proteolysis of spectrin, which occurs during apoptosis, leads to destabilization of the scaffold. It is also one of the major processes involved in membrane remodelling. Spectrins, the main components of the membrane skeleton, are the targets for two important protease systems: m- and micro-calpains (Ca2+-activated proteases) and caspase-3 (activated during apoptosis). In this paper, we show that caspase-2 also targets spectrin in vitro, and we characterize Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent regulation of spectrin cleavage by caspases. Yeast two-hybrid screening reveals that the large isoform (1/L) of procaspase-2 specifically binds to alphaII-spectrin, while the short isoform does not. Like caspase-3, caspase-2 cleaves alphaII-spectrin in vitro at residue Asp-1185. This study emphasizes a role of executioner caspase for caspase-2. We also demonstrated that the executioner caspase-7 but not caspase-6 cleaves spectrin at residue Asp-1185 in vitro. This spectrin cleavage by caspases 2, 3 and 7 is inhibited by the Ca2+-dependent binding of calmodulin to spectrin. In contrast, calmodulin binding enhances spectrin cleavage by calpain at residue Tyr-1176. These results indicate that alphaII-spectrin cleavage is highly influenced by Ca2+ homoeostasis and calmodulin, which therefore represent potential regulators of the stability and the plasticity of the spectrin-based skeleton.
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PMID:AlphaII-spectrin is an in vitro target for caspase-2, and its cleavage is regulated by calmodulin binding. 1459 90

Aromatase inhibitors have recently been reported to be more effective than the antiestrogen tamoxifen (Tam) in treating breast cancer. Here, we studied the mechanisms and signaling pathways of cell growth, cell cycle progression, and apoptosis induced by three aromatase inhibitors: letrozole (Let), anastrozole, and 4-hydroxyandrostenedione in comparison with estrogen withdrawal (E2W) and antiestrogens Tam and faslodex. Estrogen-dependent human breast cancer cells stably transfected with aromatase (MCF-7Ca) were used. All treatments induced growth suppression and cell cycle arrest at the G(0)-G(1) phase that was associated with up-regulation of p53 and p21 protein and mRNA levels and down-regulation of cyclin D1 and c-myc mRNA. The apoptotic index was increased 4-7 fold, Bcl-2 protein expression decreased, Bax increased, and caspase-9, caspase-6, and caspase-7 were activated but not caspase-3 and caspase-8. Let and E2W caused regression of tumors of MCF-7Ca cells grown in nude mice and increased the number of cells undergoing apoptosis. In contrast, Tam and faslodex did not induce tumor regression and a lower number of apoptotic cells was detected. Cleavage of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase was detected. Treatment with Let, Tam, or E2W resulted in a dose- and time-dependent increase in active caspase-7 and up-regulation of p53 and p21 protein. Although the mechanisms involved appeared to be similar for antiestrogens and aromatase inhibitors, the most significant effects occurred with Let, which were significantly greater than with E2W and consistent with marked effects of Let on tumor and cell growth.
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PMID:Signaling pathways of apoptosis activated by aromatase inhibitors and antiestrogens. 1463 37

One of the mechanisms leading to neurodegeneration during Alzheimer's disease (AD) is amyloid beta peptide neurotoxicity. In response to a variety of stress insults, namely oxidative stress, the transcription factor NF-kB can be activated. We have previously shown that amyloid beta peptides 25-35 and 1-40 (A beta 25-35 and A beta 1-40) induces cell death. In response to A beta 25-35 or 1-40 treatment, we observed an increase in superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity in NT2 cells. Amyloid beta peptides also induced an increase in SOD expression levels. This could result from NF-kB activation, as determined by the expression of p65. We observed that the NF-kB inhibitor, PDTC, prevented SOD overexpression after A beta treatment. Previously we have shown that A beta peptides could activate caspases-mediated apoptotic cell death. In this study, we analyzed if NF-kB activation prevented cells from caspases-activation and we also observed that inhibition of NF-kB by PDTC induced an increase in caspase-3 and caspase-6 activation. Taken together, these data suggest that pharmacological induction of NF-kB can be a potential target in Alzheimer's disease treatment.
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PMID:Inhibition of NF-kB renders cells more vulnerable to apoptosis induced by amyloid beta peptides. 1467 4

Huntington's disease (HD) is an autosomal dominant progressive neurodegenerative disorder resulting in selective neuronal loss and dysfunction in the striatum and cortex. The molecular pathways leading to the selectivity of neuronal cell death in HD are poorly understood. Proteolytic processing of full-length mutant huntingtin (Htt) and subsequent events may play an important role in the selective neuronal cell death found in this disease. Despite the identification of Htt as a substrate for caspases, it is not known which caspase(s) cleaves Htt in vivo or whether regional expression of caspases contribute to selective neuronal cells loss. Here, we evaluate whether specific caspases are involved in cell death induced by mutant Htt and if this correlates with our recent finding that Htt is cleaved in vivo at the caspase consensus site 552. We find that caspase-2 cleaves Htt selectively at amino acid 552. Further, Htt recruits caspase-2 into an apoptosome-like complex. Binding of caspase-2 to Htt is polyglutamine repeat-length dependent, and therefore may serve as a critical initiation step in HD cell death. This hypothesis is supported by the requirement of caspase-2 for the death of mouse primary striatal cells derived from HD transgenic mice expressing full-length Htt (YAC72). Expression of catalytically inactive (dominant-negative) forms of caspase-2, caspase-7, and to some extent caspase-6, reduced the cell death of YAC72 primary striatal cells, while the catalytically inactive forms of caspase-3, -8, and -9 did not. Histological analysis of post-mortem human brain tissue and YAC72 mice revealed activation of caspases and enhanced caspase-2 immunoreactivity in medium spiny neurons of the striatum and the cortical projection neurons when compared to controls. Further, upregulation of caspase-2 correlates directly with decreased levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor in the cortex and striatum of 3-month YAC72 transgenic mice and therefore suggests that these changes are early events in HD pathogenesis. These data support the involvement of caspase-2 in the selective neuronal cell death associated with HD in the striatum and cortex.
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PMID:Specific caspase interactions and amplification are involved in selective neuronal vulnerability in Huntington's disease. 1471 58

The expression of extracellular proteinase inhibitor (Expi) gene was induced during the involution of mammary gland, when apoptosis occurs in this tissue. Transient transfection of Expi gene partially induced apoptosis of mammary epithelial HC11 cells. We developed the stable cell lines overexpressing Expi gene and found that overexpression of Expi accelerated apoptosis of mammary epithelial cells under serum starvation. To understand apoptosis pathway involved in the Expi overexpression, we examined the gene expression profile by using apoptosis gene array containing 243 genes. The subsequent confirmation of the altered gene expression by northern analysis demonstrated that overexpression of the Expi gene induced expression of several genes, which included B cell activating factor (BAFF), Bax, cytochrome c, caspase-9, caspase-3, caspase-6, and CIDE-A. From this study, we first demonstrate that BAFF is involved in mammary apoptosis. Furthermore, we have found that the Expi-accelerated apoptosis is mediated via BAFF receptor among three known BAFF receptors: BAFF receptor, tumor necrosis factor (TNF) receptor homologue TACI (transmembrane activator and CAML-interactor), and BCMA (another TNFR homologue, B cell maturation antigen). Our studies also demonstrate that the use of apoptosis array provides an efficient tool to identify apoptosis pathway involved in gene transfection.
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PMID:Extracellular proteinase inhibitor-accelerated apoptosis is associated with B cell activating factor in mammary epithelial cells. 1472 May 11

Recently, a new coronavirus was isolated from the lung tissue of autopsy sample and nasal/throat swabs of the patients with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and the causative association with SARS was determined. To reveal further the characteristics of the virus and to provide insight about the molecular mechanism of SARS etiology, a proteomic strategy was utilized to identify the structural proteins of SARS coronavirus (SARS-CoV) isolated from Vero E6 cells infected with the BJ-01 strain of the virus. At first, Western blotting with the convalescent sera from SARS patients demonstrated that there were various structural proteins of SARS-CoV in the cultured supernatant of virus infected-Vero E6 cells and that nucleocaspid (N) protein had a prominent immunogenicity to the convalescent sera from the patients with SARS, while the immune response of spike (S) protein probably binding with membrane (M) glycoprotein was much weaker. Then, sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) was used to separate the complex protein constituents, and the strategy of continuous slicing from loading well to the bottom of the gels was utilized to search thoroughly the structural proteins of the virus. The proteins in sliced slots were trypsinized in-gel and identified by mass spectrometry. Three structural proteins named S, N and M proteins of SARS-CoV were uncovered with the sequence coverage of 38.9, 93.1 and 28.1% respectively. Glycosylation modification in S protein was also analyzed and four glycosylation sites were discovered by comparing the mass spectra before and after deglycosylation of the peptides with PNGase F digestion. Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-mass spectrometry determination showed that relative molecular weight of intact N protein is 45 929 Da, which is very close to its theoretically calculated molecular weight 45 935 Da based on the amino acid sequence deduced from the genome with the first amino acid methionine at the N-terminus depleted and second, serine, acetylated, indicating that phosphorylation does not happen at all in the predicted phosphorylation sites within infected cells nor in virus particles. Intriguingly, a series of shorter isoforms of N protein was observed by SDS-PAGE and identified by mass spectrometry characterization. For further confirmation of this phenomenon and its related mechanism, recombinant N protein of SARS-CoV was cleaved in vitro by caspase-3 and -6 respectively. The results demonstrated that these shorter isoforms could be the products from cleavage of caspase-3 rather than that of caspase-6. Further, the relationship between the caspase cleavage and the viral infection to the host cell is discussed.
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PMID:Proteomic analysis on structural proteins of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus. 1476 Jul 22

Cell death is of two types; necrosis and apoptosis. In histiocytic necrotising lymphadenitis (HNL), apoptosis is the main form of cell death. Apoptosis results in the formation of nuclear debris, which is one of the characteristic features of HNL. We previously reported that in HNL it is predominantly CD8-positive cytotoxic T cells that undergo apoptosis; however, the majority of proliferating cells are also CD8-positive T cells. Recent advances in technical and analytical methods have facilitated the parallel quantitation of expression of numerous genes using DNA microarrays. The technology is particularly well suited to compare differences in gene expression between normal tissues and inflammatory disease. To investigate the apoptosis- and cell cycle-associated gene expression in HNL, we analysed five cases each of HNL and non-specific lymphadenitis (NSL), using ready-made microarrays, including cyclins and caspases, and immunohistochemical staining of caspase-3, ssDNA, bcl-2 and NF-kappaB. Caspase-3- and ssDNA-positive apoptotic cells were frequently detected in HNL, but were rare in NSL. However, bcl-2- and NF-kappaB-positive cells were rare in HNL. Gene expression tree analysis of DNA microarrays showed different clustering of HNL and NSL. In comparison with NSL, HNL exhibited diffuse upregulation of these gene profiles, particularly of cyclins and caspases (ratio; cyclin A2, 2.72; caspase-6, 2.43; caspase-3, 2.02); whereas, Mcl-1, which has been shown to delay apoptosis, was downregulated (ratio, 0.71), as confirmed by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Almost all apoptosis-associated genes, especially caspases, were upregulated, and apoptosis inhibitory genes, including bcl-2 by immunohistochemistry, were downregulated in all five cases with HNL. In addition, cell cycle-associated genes were upregulated in all. These findings confirm that both apoptosis and proliferation are simultaneously present in HNL lesions.
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PMID:Apoptosis- and cell cycle-associated gene expression profiling of histiocytic necrotising lymphadenitis. 1505 66

The analgesic buprenorphine hydrochloride (Bph) induced apoptosis-like cell death in the caspase-3-deficient human breast cancer cell line, MCF-7. This apoptosis-like cell death activated key molecules in the mitochondrial apoptotic pathway: cytochrome c, caspase-9, caspase-7, and caspase-6. Bph caused the release of fluorescent protein from the mitochondria of MCF-7 cells transfected with the pDsRed2-Mito-vector in a time-dependent manner, suggesting disruption of the mitochondrial membrane. Zn(2+) as high as 2 mM did not inhibit the DNase that took part in this apoptosis. Thus, this unidentified DNase might resemble other DNases involved in apoptosis-like cell death whose activity is not inhibited by zinc ion.
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PMID:Apoptosis-like cell death of human breast cancer cell line MCF-7 induced by buprenorphine hydrochloride. 1513 50

Lyssaviruses, which are members of the Rhabdoviridae family, induce apoptosis, which plays an important role in the neuropathogenesis of rabies. However, the mechanisms by which these viruses mediate neuronal apoptosis have not been elucidated. Here we demonstrate that the early induction of apoptosis in a model of lyssavirus-infected neuroblastoma cells involves a TRAIL-dependent pathway requiring the activation of caspase-8 but not of caspase-9 or caspase-10. The activation of caspase-8 results in the activation of caspase-3 and caspase-6, as shown by an increase in the cleavage of the specific caspase substrate in lyssavirus-infected cells. However, neither caspase-1 nor caspase-2 activity was detected during the early phase of infection. Lyssavirus-mediated cell death involves an interaction between TRAIL receptors and TRAIL, as demonstrated by experiments using neutralizing antibodies and soluble decoy TRAIL-R1/R2 receptors. We also demonstrated that the decapsidation and replication of lyssavirus are essential for inducing apoptosis, as supported by UV inactivation, cycloheximide treatment, and the use of bafilomycin A1 to inhibit endosomal acidification. Transfection of cells with the matrix protein induced apoptosis using pathways similar to those described in the context of viral infection. Furthermore, our data suggest that the matrix protein of lyssaviruses plays a major role in the early induction of TRAIL-mediated apoptosis by the release of a soluble, active form of TRAIL. In our model, Fas ligand (CD95L) appears to play a limited role in lyssavirus-mediated neuroblastoma cell death. Similarly, tumor necrosis factor alpha does not appear to play an important role.
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PMID:Lyssavirus matrix protein induces apoptosis by a TRAIL-dependent mechanism involving caspase-8 activation. 1516 47

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