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

This study investigated the temporal expression and cell subtype distribution of activated caspase-3 following cortical impact-induced traumatic brain injury in rats. The animals were killed and examined for protein expression of the proteolytically active subunit of caspase-3, p18, at intervals from 6 h to 14 days after injury. In addition, we also investigated the effect of caspase-3 activation on proteolysis of the cytoskeletal protein alpha-spectrin. Increased protein levels of p18 and the caspase-3-specific 120-kDa breakdown product to alpha-spectrin were seen in the cortex ipsilateral to the injury site from 6 to 72 h after the trauma. Immunohistological examinations revealed increased expression of p18 in neurons, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes from 6 to 72 h following impact injury. In contrast, no evidence of caspase-3 activation was seen in microglia at all time points investigated. Quantitative analysis of caspase-3-positive cells revealed that the number of caspase-3-positive neurons exceeded the number of caspase-3-positive glia cells from 6 to 72 h after injury. Moreover, concurrent assessment of nuclear histopathology using hematoxylin identified p18-immunopositive cells exhibiting apoptotic-like morphological profiles in the cortex ipsilateral to the injury site. In contrast, no evidence of increased p18 expression or alpha-spectrin proteolysis was seen in the ipsilateral hippocampus, contralateral cortex, or hippocampus up to 14 days after the impact. Our results are the first to demonstrate the concurrent expression of activated caspase-3 in different CNS cells after traumatic brain injury in the rat. Our findings also suggest a contributory role of activated caspase-3 in neuronal and glial apoptotic degeneration after experimental TBI in vivo.
J Neurochem 2000 Sep
PMID:Temporal profile and cell subtype distribution of activated caspase-3 following experimental traumatic brain injury. 1093 10

The experiments were designed to study correlation between frequency of apoptosis of Reed-Sternberg/Hodgkin (R-S/H) cells, EBV infection of these cells, expression of the key proteins involved in regulation of apoptosis and cell cycle in R-S/H cells, the patients' pretreatment markers and the clinical outcome. One hundred and ten Hodgkin's disease (HD) patients were studies, of which 69 obtained complete remission (CR) after first-line treatment and 41 did not respond. The time of follow-up was from 18 to 242, median 69.7, months. Apoptosis was evaluated by TUNEL technique (TdT-mediated dUTP nick end labeling) and the presence of EBV-latent membrane protein 1 as well as expression of Bcl-2, tumor suppressor p53, p21WAF1, MDM-2, Rb1, PCNA, p27KIP1 and caspase-3, was detected immunocytochemically on paraffin-embedded lymph node specimens obtained at diagnosis. Positive TUNEL reaction was found in 43 patients with apoptotic index (AI) in this group varying between 10% and 60%. In the remaining 57 patients AI of R-S/H cells was below 10%. In 62 patients the cells surrounding R-S/H cells were also TUNEL-positive; their frequency was variable. The expression of LMP1 protein on R-S/H cells was found in 38 patients, without any correlation with the presence or frequency of apoptosis. No significant difference was seen between the AI and both clinical stage and histological type of the disease. However, the mean AI in non-responding patients was significantly higher than in CR group (p=0.015); the high frequency of apoptosis was also negatively correlated with the progression free survival time (p=0.031) and the overall survival (p=0.042). The expression of PCNA, p21WAF1, p53 protein and caspase-3 also showed positive correlation with frequency of apoptosis (p=0.011, p=0.036, and p=0.001, respectively). On the other hand, no statistically confirmed correlation was found between AI and expression of bcl-2, MDM-2, Rb1, and p27KIP1 on R-S/H cells. These data provide evidence that tumor cells in HD undergo spontaneous apoptosis regardless of EBV infection. High pretreatment AI correlates with poor response to the treatment, and may be considered as a potential negative prognostic factor in HD.
Int J Oncol 2000 Sep
PMID:Spontaneous apoptosis of Reed-Sternberg and Hodgkin cells; clinical and pathological implications in patients with Hodgkin's disease. 1093 5

The chelating and antioxidant effects of pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate (PDTC) have been investigated extensively for preventing cell death induced by different insults. However, the toxic effects of PDTC have been studied only recently and fewer studies on the toxic effects on astrocytes have been reported. In our study, we demonstrated that both PDTC and Cu(2+) alone were rated as only weakly toxic in inducing cell death in cortical astrocytes with IC(50) of 300 microM and 180 microM, respectively. However, PDTC and Cu(2+) in the complex form markedly potentiated with each other by about 1,000-fold with IC(50) of 0.3 microM PDTC plus 10 microM Cu(2+). Other metals at concentrations of 3-10 microM (VO(4)(5+), Cr(6+), Mn(2+), Fe(2+), Co(2+), Ni(2+), Zn(2+), Pb(2+), Bi(2+), Ba(2+), UO(2+), Cs(+), SeO(4)(2-), La(3+)) had no such potentiating effects on PDTC. Changes in morphology (nuclear condensation), apoptotic body formation, and hypodiploidity of DNA suggested that the PDTC-Cu(2+) complex induced cell death through an apoptotic process. Further studies showed that the PDTC-Cu(2+) complex decreased mitochondrial membrane potential, increased hydrogen peroxide production, and depleted GSH contents. After the increased oxidative stress, PDTC-Cu(2+) complex differentially activated JNKs, ERK, p38 and caspase 3, which caused PARP degradation in a time-dependent manner. All these effects were consistent with the increased cellular Cu contents. The nonpermeable copper-specific chelator bathocuproine disulfonate (BCPS), but not the permeable Cu(2+) chelator neocuproine, abolished all the observed effects. Antioxidants (N-acetylcysteine [NAC], vitamin C), catalase, and Cu(2+)-binding proteins (albumin, hemoglobin, and higher serum) reduced the cytotoxic effects of PDTC-Cu(2+) complex. We concluded that the death signaling pathway of PDTC-Cu(2+) complex was mediated by oxidative stress and subsequent JNK activation. These findings imply that PDTC, a widely used pesticide and medicine that is capable of penetrating the blood-brain barrier, may cause neurotoxicity through astrocyte dysfunction.
Glia 2000 Sep
PMID:Death signaling pathway induced by pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate-Cu(2+) complex in the cultured rat cortical astrocytes. 1094 Nov 51

Caspases, a family of cysteine proteases, play a central role in the pathways leading to apoptosis. Recently, it has been reported that a broad spectrum inhibitor of caspases, the tripeptide Z-VAD-fmk, induced a switch from apoptosis to necrosis in dexamethasone-treated B lymphocytes and thymocytes. As such a cell death conversion could increase the efficiency of radiation therapy and in order to identify the caspases involved in this cell death transition, we investigated the effects of caspase-3-related proteases inhibition in irradiated MOLT-4 cells. Cells were pretreated with Ac-DEVD-CHO, an inhibitor of caspase-3-like activity, and submitted to X-rays at doses ranging from 1 to 4 Gy. Our results show that the inhibition of caspase-3-like activity prevents completely the appearance of the classical hallmarks of apoptosis such as internucleosomal DNA fragmentation or hypodiploid particles formation and partially the externalization of phosphatidylserine. However, this was not accompanied by any persistent increase in cell survival. Instead, irradiated cells treated by this inhibitor exhibited characteristics of a necrotic cell death. Therefore, functional caspase-3-subfamily not only appears as key proteases in the execution of the apoptotic process, but their activity may also influence the type of cell death following an exposure to ionizing radiation.
Br J Cancer 2000 Sep
PMID:Caspase-3-like activity determines the type of cell death following ionizing radiation in MOLT-4 human leukaemia cells. 1094 6

TGF-beta is a potent inducer of apoptosis in many Burkitt's lymphoma (BL) cell lines. In this study, we characterize this apoptotic process in the EBV-negative BL41 cell line. Induction of apoptosis was detected as early as 8 h after TGF-beta treatment, as assayed by TUNEL and poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase cleavage. FACS analysis demonstrates that this proceeds predominately from the G1, but also from the G2/M phases of the cell cycle. We observed no early detectable changes in the steady-state levels of Bcl-2 and several of its family members after TGF-beta treatment. We detected cleavage of caspases 2, 3, 7, 8, and 9 into their active subunits. Consistent with the involvement of these enzymes in TGF-beta-mediated apoptosis, the broad spectrum caspase inhibitor benzyloxycarbonyl-Val-Ala-Asp(Ome)-flouromethylketone (ZVAD-fmk) blocked TGF-beta-induced apoptosis and revealed a G1 arrest in treated cells. Use of specific caspase inhibitors revealed that the induction of apoptosis is caspase 8 dependent, but caspase 3 independent. Activation of caspase 8 has been shown to be a critical event in death receptor-mediated apoptosis. However, TGF-beta treatment of BL41 cells was found not to affect the cell surface expression of Fas, TNF-R1, DR3, DR4, or DR5, or the steady-state expression levels of Fas ligand, TNF-R1, DR3, DR4, and DR5. Furthermore, blocking experiments indicated that TGF-beta-mediated apoptosis is not dependent on Fas ligand, TNF-alpha, tumor necrosis-like apoptosis-inducing ligand, or TNF-like weak inducer of apoptosis signaling. Therefore, it appears that TGF-beta induces apoptosis in BL cell lines via caspase 8 in a death receptor-independent fashion.
J Immunol 2000 Sep 01
PMID:Apoptosis induced by TGF-beta 1 in Burkitt's lymphoma cells is caspase 8 dependent but is death receptor independent. 1094 76

Subsite interactions are considered to define the stringent specificity of proteases for their natural substrates. To probe this issue in the proteolytic pathways leading to apoptosis we have examined the P(4), P(1) and P(1)' subsite preferences of human caspases 1, 3, 6, 7 and 8, using internally quenched fluorescent peptide substrates containing o-aminobenzoyl (also known as anthranilic acid) and 3-nitro-tyrosine. Previous work has demonstrated the importance of the S(4) subsite in directing specificity within the caspase family. Here we demonstrate the influence of the S(1) and S(1)' subsites that flank the scissile peptide bond. The S(1) subsite, the major specificity-determining site of the caspases, demonstrates tremendous selectivity, with a 20000-fold preference for cleaving substrates containing aspartic acid over glutamic acid at this position. Thus caspases are among the most selective of known endopeptidases. We find that the caspases show an unexpected degree of discrimination in the P(1)' position, with a general preference for small amino acid residues such as alanine, glycine and serine, with glycine being the preferred substituent. Large aromatic residues are also surprisingly well-tolerated, but charged residues are prohibited. While this describes the general order of P(1)' subsite preferences within the caspase family, there are some differences in individual profiles, with caspase-3 being particularly promiscuous. Overall, the subsite preferences can be used to predict natural substrates, but in certain cases the cleavage site within a presumed natural substrate cannot be predicted by looking for the preferred peptide cleavage sites. In the latter case we conclude that second-site interactions may overcome otherwise sub-optimal cleavage sequences.
Biochem J 2000 Sep 01
PMID:Internally quenched fluorescent peptide substrates disclose the subsite preferences of human caspases 1, 3, 6, 7 and 8. 1094 72

The present study was conducted to examine the protective effect of cumulus cells on oocyte damage caused by reactive oxygen species (ROS), generated by the hypoxanthine-xanthine oxidase (XOD) system, during in vitro maturation of porcine oocytes. Cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs) and cumulus-denuded oocytes (DOs) were cultured for 44 h in NCSU37 supplemented with cysteine, gonadotropins, 10% porcine follicular fluid, and hypoxanthine in the presence or absence of XOD. DNA cleavage and damage were analyzed using the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick end-labeling (TUNEL) method and single cell microgel electrophoresis (comet) assay, respectively, and caspase-3 activity and glutathione (GSH) content were measured in each experimental group. Exposure of DOs to ROS resulted in meiotic arrest and the increase of degenerated oocytes. These degenerated DOs underwent apoptosis, as shown by the TUNEL-positive reaction within their germinal vesicles and the activation of caspase-3. The length of DNA migration in DOs treated with XOD was significantly longer than that of untreated DOs (P: < 0.05). However, irreparable cell damage caused by ROS was not observed in COCs, and no difference was observed in the caspase-3 activity of both COCs treated with and without XOD. A significantly (P: < 0.05) high level of GSH was found in COCs after 44 h of culture, compared with that of oocytes freshly isolated from their follicles, whereas GSH content in DOs markedly decreased after treatment with or without XOD. These findings suggest that cumulus cells have a critical role in protecting oocytes against oxidative stress-induced apoptosis through the enhancement of GSH content in oocytes.
Biol Reprod 2000 Sep
PMID:Protection of porcine oocytes against apoptotic cell death caused by oxidative stress during In vitro maturation: role of cumulus cells. 1095 24

The effects of an oxidative insult on cell survival and tau metabolism were investigated in human neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cells. In this treatment paradigm cells were exposed to the membrane permeant oxidant tert-butylhydroperoxide (tBHP) for 40 min, returned to fresh media and cell survival/death was monitored during the post-treatment period. Cell viability decreased significantly by 6 hr after tBHP exposure, and by 24 hr lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release was 40.1 +/- 8.8% in tBHP treated cells compared to 8.1 +/- 4.7% in control cells. This oxidative stress paradigm also resulted in significant activation of caspase-3 by 2 hr post-treatment and nuclear apoptotic morphology. Furthermore, tBHP treatment also resulted in delayed tau proteolysis that was first evident 2 hr post-treatment. Treatment of the cells with the general caspase inhibitor Boc-Asp(OMe)-Fluoromethylketone (BAF) completely inhibited caspase-3 activation in response to tBHP, and delayed, but did not prevent cell death. BAF treatment also decreased tau proteolysis. In vitro, recombinant tau was readily proteolyzed by active recombinant caspase-3 into a stable breakdown product. Further tau in the cell lysates was cleaved by active recombinant caspase-3 at a rate, and to an extent similar to that observed for the well-established caspase-3 substrate poly(ADP-ribose)polymerase (PARP). These results suggest that oxidative stress-induced cell death occurs through both caspase-dependent and-independent pathways, and that tau is likely an in situ substrate of caspase-3.
J Neurosci Res 2000 Sep 01
PMID:Transient oxidative stress in SH-SY5Y human neuroblastoma cells results in caspase dependent and independent cell death and tau proteolysis. 1095 21

TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) selectively induces apoptosis in various transformed cell lines but not in almost-normal tissues. It is regulated by 2 death receptors, TRAIL receptor 1 (TRAIL-R1) and TRAIL-R2, and 2 decoy receptors, TRAIL-R3 and TRAIL-R4. We investigated the expression of TRAIL-R- and TRAIL-induced apoptosis in human hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs). TRAIL-R1, -R2, and -R4 were expressed in 6 HCC cell lines examined, but TRAIL-R3 was expressed in only 2 of the 6 cell lines. In addition, immunohistochemical results revealed a high and prevalent expression of TRAIL-R1 and -R2 in human HCC tissues. Despite the expression of TRAIL-R1 and -R2, all 6 HCC cell lines showed resistance to TRAIL-induced apoptosis with no relation to nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kappaB) levels induced by TRAIL. TRAIL-induced death signal was inhibited with both decreased caspase-8 and caspase-3 activity. However, TRAIL induced significant apoptosis in the presence of a subtoxic level of actinomycin D, indicating that the TRAIL-induced apoptotic pathway is in place in these cell lines. In addition, we found that treatment with conventional chemotherapeutic agents, doxorubicin and camptothecin, dramatically augmented TRAIL-induced cytotoxicity in most of the HCC cell lines. Actinomycin D and camptothecin almost completely suppressed NF-kappaB induction by TRAIL, whereas doxorubicin had little effect. These results indicate that TRAIL, in combination with chemotherapeutic agents, may have therapeutic potential in the treatment of human HCC.
Hepatology 2000 Sep
PMID:Chemotherapeutic agents augment TRAIL-induced apoptosis in human hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines. 1096 Apr 39

Transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta)-mediated apoptosis is one of the major death processes in the liver. We have previously shown that epidermal growth factor (EGF) is an important survival signal for TGF-beta-induced apoptosis in fetal hepatocytes (Fabregat et al., FEBS Lett 1996;384:14-18). In this work we have studied the intracellular signaling implicated in the protective effect of EGF. We show here that EGF activates p42 and p44 mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK). However, mitogen extracellular kinase (MEK) inhibitors do not block the survival effect of EGF. EGF also activates phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI 3-kinase) and protein kinase B (PKB/AKT) in these cells. The presence of PI 3-kinase inhibitors blocks the protective effect of EGF on cell viability, DNA fragmentation, and caspase-3 activity. We have found that TGF-beta disrupts the mitochondrial transmembrane potential (DeltaPsi(m))( )and activates the release of cytochrome c, this effect being blocked by EGF, via a PI 3-kinase-dependent pathway. A detailed study on bcl-2 superfamily gene expression shows that TGF-beta produces a decrease in the messenger RNA (mRNA) and protein levels of bcl-x(L), an antiapoptotic member of this family, capable of preventing cytochrome c release. EGF is able to maintain bcl-x(L) levels even in the presence of TGF-beta. PI 3-kinase inhibitors completely block the protective effect of EGF on TGF-beta-induced bcl-x(L )down-regulation. We conclude that PI 3-kinase mediates the survival effect of EGF on TGF-beta-induced death by acting upstream from the mitochondrial changes, i.e., preventing bcl-x(L) down-regulation, cytochrome c release, and activation of caspase-3.
Hepatology 2000 Sep
PMID:Epidermal growth factor impairs the cytochrome C/caspase-3 apoptotic pathway induced by transforming growth factor beta in rat fetal hepatocytes via a phosphoinositide 3-kinase-dependent pathway. 1096 Apr 45


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