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)

Recent evidence from a wide variety of biological systems has indicated important regulatory roles for post-translation histone modifications in cellular processes such as regulation of gene expression, DNA damage response and recombination. Phosphorylation of histone H2AX at serine 139 is a critical event in the response to DNA damage, but the functional implications of this modification are not yet clear. To investigate the role of H2AX phosphorylation we ectopically expressed epitope-tagged H2AX or mutants at the phosphorylation site. GFP-tagged wild type H2AX, H2AX Ser139Ala or H2AX Ser139Glu proteins were efficiently expressed, localizing exclusively to the interphase nucleus and to condensed chromosomes during mitosis. Biochemical fractionation indicated that epitope-tagged H2AX proteins are incorporated into nucleosomes. Expression of H2AX Ser139Ala, which disrupts the phosphorylation site partially suppressed early G(2)/M arrest following ionizing radiation, and cells expressing this mutant were more sensitive to DNA damage. Conversely, expression of H2AX Ser139Glu, designed as phosphorylation mimic, induced a decrease in the number of cells in mitosis in the absence of DNA damage. Interestingly, this decrease induced by H2AX Ser139Glu was independent of the formation of 53BP1-containing foci and was partially suppressed in CHK2-deficient cells, suggesting a role for CHK2 in this process. Further analyses revealed that expression of either mutant lead to apoptosis and induced higher caspase-3/7 activity compared to expression of wild type H2AX. In addition, we also identified Lys119 as a site for ubiquitination that controls H2AX half-life. Phosphorylation of Ser139 and ubiquitination of K119 are not interdependent. Taken together these results demonstrate a role for H2AX Serine 139 phosphorylation in cell cycle regulation and apoptosis, and for Lysine 119 in the control of H2AX turnover.
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PMID:Ectopic expression of histone H2AX mutants reveals a role for its post-translational modifications. 1930 55

Thioredoxin (Trx) is a 12-kDa protein ubiquitously expressed in all living cells that fulfills a variety of biological functions related to cell proliferation and apoptosis. It is characterized by the highly conserved reduction/oxidation (redox)-active site sequence Trp-Cys-Gly-Pro-Cys-Lys. Trx acts as a powerful antioxidant and plays an important role in maintaining critical protein thiols in the reduced state. Moreover, it has been shown to scavenge reactive oxygen species (ROS) and to protect against oxidative stress. We have reported that Trx-1 protects against neuronal damage during focal ischemia. However, the mechanisms underlying this protective effect and the effect of Trx-1 on neuronal apoptosis during ischemia have not been fully clarified. In this study, we analyzed the effect of Trx-1 overexpression against neuronal degeneration after a short duration of transient brain ischemia. Mild focal ischemia was reported to induce neuronal death through apoptosis. We employed Fluorojade-B staining to detect neuronal degeneration. In Trx transgenic mice, a smaller number of Fluorojade-B-positive neurons were detected after ischemia-reperfusion than in wild-type mice. In addition, we detected cleaved caspase-3- and TUNEL-positive cells, which indicated caspase-dependent apoptosis. Fewer caspase-3- and TUNEL-positive neurons were detected after ischemia-reperfusion in Trx transgenic mice than in wild-type mice. Furthermore, Akt signaling was reported to play a role in neuronal survival in Trx-1 overexpressing mice. After ischemia-reperfusion, Western blot and immunohistochemical analysis indicated that phosphorylation of Akt was enhanced in Trx transgenic mice after ischemia-reperfusion. Intraventricular injection of LY294002,which is a phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K), vanished the neuroprotective effect in Trx-1 transgenic mice. These results indicate that Trx-1 overexpression protects neurons from apoptosis after ischemia-reperfusion.
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PMID:Attenuation of neuronal degeneration in thioredoxin-1 overexpressing mice after mild focal ischemia. 1932 86

XIAP is known as a potent inhibitor of apoptosis, but in addition is involved in cellular signalling, including the NFkappaB, JNK and TGFbeta pathways. Our search for XIAP-interacting partners led us to Siva1, a proapoptotic protein that is known to play a role in T-cell apoptosis through a caspase-dependent mitochondrial pathway. The interaction sites between XIAP and Siva1 were mapped to the RING domain of XIAP and the N-terminal, SAH-containing and death-homology-region-containing domains of Siva1. Co-immunoprecipitation experiments showed that XIAP, Siva1 and TAK1 form a ternary complex in Jurkat T cells. Reporter-gene analysis revealed that Siva1 inhibits XIAP- and TAK1-TAB1-mediated NFkappaB activation. By contrast, Siva1 increased XIAP- and TNFalpha-mediated AP1 activity and prolonged TNFalpha-induced JNK activation, whereas knock down of Siva1 resulted in reduced JNK activation. This suggests that Siva1 differentially modulates signalling by JNK and NFkappaB and shifts the balance between these pathways towards enhanced JNK activation, a situation that promotes apoptosis. Ectopically expressed Siva1 increased caspase-3 activity, which was inhibited by XIAP in a ubiquitin-ligase-dependent manner. In line with this, Siva1 was lysine-48-linked polyubiquitylated by XIAP. Our findings suggest that, via physical interaction with XIAP and TAK1, Siva1 diminishes NFkappaB and enhances JNK activity to favour apoptosis.
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PMID:Siva1 is a XIAP-interacting protein that balances NFkappaB and JNK signalling to promote apoptosis. 1958 92

The severely debilitating disease Congenital Muscular Dystrophy Type 1A (MDC1A) is caused by mutations in the gene encoding laminin-alpha2. Bax-mediated muscle cell death is a significant contributor to the severe neuromuscular pathology seen in the Lama2-null mouse model of MDC1A. To extend our understanding of pathogenesis due to laminin-alpha2-deficiency, we have now analyzed molecular mechanisms of Bax regulation in normal and laminin-alpha2-deficient muscles and cells, including myogenic cells obtained from patients with a clinical diagnosis of MDC1A. In mouse myogenic cells, we found that, as in non-muscle cells, Bax co-immunoprecipitated with the multifunctional protein Ku70. In addition, cell permeable pentapeptides designed from Ku70, termed Bax-inhibiting peptides (BIPs), inhibited staurosporine-induced Bax translocation and cell death in mouse myogenic cells. We also found that acetylation of Ku70, which can inhibit binding to Bax and can be an indicator of increased susceptibility to cell death, was more abundant in Lama2-null than in normal mouse muscles. Furthermore, myotubes formed in culture from human laminin-alpha2-deficient patient myoblasts produced high levels of activated caspase-3 when grown on poly-L-lysine, but not when grown on a laminin-alpha2-containing substrate or when treated with BIPs. Finally, cytoplasmic Ku70 in human laminin-alpha2-deficient myotubes was both reduced in amount and more highly acetylated than in normal myotubes. Increased susceptibility to cell death thus appears to be an intrinsic property of human laminin-alpha2-deficient myotubes. These results identify Ku70 as a regulator of Bax-mediated pathogenesis and a therapeutic target in laminin-alpha2-deficiency.
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PMID:Ku70 regulates Bax-mediated pathogenesis in laminin-alpha2-deficient human muscle cells and mouse models of congenital muscular dystrophy. 1969 49

Caspase-3 and -7 are considered functionally redundant proteases with similar proteolytic specificities. We performed a proteome-wide screen on a mouse macrophage lysate using the N-terminal combined fractional diagonal chromatography technology and identified 46 shared, three caspase-3-specific, and six caspase-7-specific cleavage sites. Further analysis of these cleavage sites and substitution mutation experiments revealed that for certain cleavage sites a lysine at the P5 position contributes to the discrimination between caspase-7 and -3 specificity. One of the caspase-7-specific substrates, the 40 S ribosomal protein S18, was studied in detail. The RPS18-derived P6-P5' undecapeptide retained complete specificity for caspase-7. The corresponding P6-P1 hexapeptide still displayed caspase-7 preference but lost strict specificity, suggesting that P' residues are additionally required for caspase-7-specific cleavage. Analysis of truncated peptide mutants revealed that in the case of RPS18 the P4-P1 residues constitute the core cleavage site but that P6, P5, P2', and P3' residues critically contribute to caspase-7 specificity. Interestingly, specific cleavage by caspase-7 relies on excluding recognition by caspase-3 and not on increasing binding for caspase-7.
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PMID:Proteome-wide substrate analysis indicates substrate exclusion as a mechanism to generate caspase-7 versus caspase-3 specificity. 1975 58

Post-translational modification by SUMO (small ubiquitin-like modifier) was proposed to modulate the pathogenesis of several neurodegenerative diseases. Spinocerebellar ataxia type 7 (SCA7) is a neurodegenerative disorder, whose pathology is caused by an expansion of a polyglutamine stretch in the protein ataxin-7 (ATXN7). Here, we identified ATXN7 as new target for SUMOylation in vitro and in vivo. The major SUMO acceptor site was mapped to lysine 257, which is part of an evolutionarily conserved consensus SUMOylation motif. SUMOylation did not influence the subcellular localization of ATXN7 nor its interaction with components of the TFTC/STAGA complex. Expansion of the polyglutamine stretch did not impair the SUMOylation of ATXN7. Furthermore, SUMO1 and SUMO2 colocalized with ATXN7 in a subset of neuronal intranuclear inclusions in the brain of SCA7 patients and SCA7 knock-in mice. In a COS-7 cellular model of SCA7, in addition to diffuse nucleoplasmic staining we identified two populations of nuclear inclusions: homogenous or non-homogenous. Non-homogenous inclusions showed significantly reduced colocalization with SUMO1 and SUMO2, but were highly enriched in Hsp70, 19S proteasome and ubiquitin. Interestingly, they were characterized by increased staining with the apoptotic marker caspase-3 and by disruption of PML nuclear bodies. Importantly, preventing the SUMOylation of expanded ATXN7 by mutating the SUMO site increased both the amount of SDS-insoluble aggregates and of caspase-3 positive non-homogenous inclusions, which act toxic to the cells. Our results demonstrate an influence of SUMOylation on the multistep aggregation process of ATXN7 and implicate a role for ATXN7 SUMOylation in SCA7 pathogenesis.
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PMID:SUMOylation attenuates the aggregation propensity and cellular toxicity of the polyglutamine expanded ataxin-7. 1984 41

Restricted expression of caspase-14 in differentiating keratinocytes suggests the involvement of caspase-14 in terminal differentiation. We purified active caspase-14 from human cornified cells with sequential chromatographic procedures. Specific activity increased 764-fold with a yield of 9.1%. Purified caspase-14 revealed the highest activity on WEHD-methylcoumaryl-amide (MCA), although YVAD-MCA, another caspase-1 substrate, was poorly hydrolyzed. The purified protein was a heterodimer with 17 and 11 kDa subunits. N-terminal and C-terminal analyses demonstrated that the large subunit consisted of Ser(6)-Asp(146) and N-terminal of small subunit was identified as Lys(153). We successfully developed an antiserum (anti-h14D146) directed against the Asp(146) cleavage site, which reacted only with active caspase-14 but not with procaspase-14. Furthermore we confirmed that anti-h14D146 did not show any reactivity to the active forms of other caspases. Immunohistochemical analysis demonstrated that anti-h14D146 staining was mostly restricted to the cornified layer and co-localized with some of the TUNEL positive-granular cells in the normal human epidermis. UV radiation study demonstrated that caspase-3 was activated and co-localized with TUNEL-positive cells in the middle layer of human epidermis. In contrast, we could not detect caspase-14 activation in response to UV. Our study revealed tightly regulated action of caspase-14, in which only the terminal differentiation of keratinocytes controls its activation process.
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PMID:Purification and characterization of active caspase-14 from human epidermis and development of the cleavage site-directed antibody. 1996 May 12

IGF-binding protein-3 (IGFBP3) is a member of the IGFBP family, which regulates mitogenic and antiapoptotic effects of IGFs. In this report we evaluated the role of IGFBP3 in melanoma. Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR), western blot, and ELISA analyses indicated a significant downregulation of IGFBP3 expression in melanoma cell lines as compared with a normal melanocyte cell line. Melanoma cell lines treated with the demethylating agent 5-AZA-2'-deoxycytidine reexpressed IGFBP3 at the mRNA and protein levels. Chromatin immunoprecipitation assays revealed enrichment of acetylated histones H3 and H4, and H3 di- and tri-methylated lysine 4 on the unmethylated IGFBP3 promoter. The IGFBP3 promoter region was highly methylated in human melanoma samples as compared with normal nevi. Overexpression of IGFBP3 in melanoma cells in vitro suppressed tumor cell survival, induced apoptosis, reduced colony formation and invasion, and induced expression of the proapoptotic genes p21, PUMA, and BAX. IGFBP3 overexpression also resulted in cleavage of caspase 3 and reduced expression of phosphorylated AKT. Stable overexpression of IGFBP3 suppressed tumor cell growth in vivo. Our study results indicate that silencing of IGFBP3 in melanoma is due to the methylation of its promoter, and that overexpression of IGFBP3 induces apoptosis and suppresses cell survival and growth.
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PMID:Functional modulation of IGF-binding protein-3 expression in melanoma. 2035 12

Common carp (Cyprinus carpio) of average body mass 0.07+/-0.02 g were fed three formulated diets: wheat gluten protein-based diet supplemented with Lys-Gly dipeptide (PP), wheat gluten protein-based diet supplemented with free lysine and glycine (AA), and a wheat gluten protein-based control diet without lysine supplementation (CON), frozen zooplankton (Z) (restricted diet), and a commercial starter food Aglo Norse (AN). After 4 weeks of experimental feeding, fish fed AN diet showed the highest body mass and length. Significantly lower mass occurred in groups fed PP, AA, CON, and Z. Fish fed CON diet showed the lowest intestinal folds and the highest number of mucous cells. Fish fed PP diet showed a significantly higher number of gastrin/cholecystokinin (CCK) positive cells. The diameter of lipid vacuoles in hepatocyte cytoplasm of fish fed formulated diets (PP, AA and CON) was significantly higher than in fish fed zooplankton (Z) and the commercial diet (AN). Hepatocytes of fish fed AA and CON showed a higher nucleus proliferation rate than in the other experimental groups. The quantitative analysis of the number of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and caspase-3(rabbit polyclonal antibody CPP-32)-positive cells showed that the highest proliferation rate was accompanied by the high apoptosis in the intestine of fish fed AA and CON. After 4 weeks of experimental feeding the highest relative expression of PepT1 gene was observed in fish fed PP diet, while the lowest expression occurred in fish fed CON. Feeding carp plant protein-based diet supplemented with Lys-Gly dipeptide (PP) had a beneficial influence on fish growth and metabolism in the digestive tract as compared to fish fed control diet without lysine supplementation (CON).
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PMID:The effect of plant protein-based diet supplemented with dipeptide or free amino acids on digestive tract morphology and PepT1 and PepT2 expressions in common carp (Cyprinus carpio L.). 2054 30

Methylglyoxal (MGO), a cytotoxic metabolite, is produced from glycolysis. Elevated levels of MGO are observed in a number of diabetic complications, including retinopathy, nephropathy and cardiomyopathy. Loss of retinal pericyte, a hallmark of early diabetic retinal changes, leads to the development of formation of microaneurysms, retinal hemorrhages and neovasculization. Herein, we evaluated the cytotoxic role of MGO in retinal pericytes and further investigated the signaling pathway leading to cell death. Rat primary retinal pericytes were exposed to 400muM MGO for 6h. Retinal vessels were prepared from intravitreally MGO-injected rat eyes. We demonstrated apoptosis, nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB) activation and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) induction in cultured pericytes treated with MGO and MGO-injected retinal vessels. In MGO-treated pericytes, TUNEL-positive nuclei were markedly increased, and NF-kappaB was translocalized into the nuclei of pericytes, which paralleled the expression of iNOS. The treatment of pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate (an NF-kappaB inhibitor) or l-N6-(1-iminoethyl)-lysine (an iNOS inhibitor) prevented apoptosis of MGO-treated pericytes. In addition, in intravitreally MGO-injected rat eyes, TUNEL and caspase-3-positive pericytes were significantly increased, and activated NF-kappaB and iNOS were highly expressed. These results suggest that the increased expression of NF-kappaB and iNOS caused by MGO is involved in rat retinal pericyte apoptosis.
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PMID:Cytotoxic role of methylglyoxal in rat retinal pericytes: Involvement of a nuclear factor-kappaB and inducible nitric oxide synthase pathway. 2062 Oct 70


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