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 examined whether apoptosis is involved in hypoxic cell death using primary cultures of rat cortical neurons and whether the cell death is associated with changes in Bcl-2 and Bax expressions and activities of caspases. Hypoxic insult accelerates apoptosis, as shown by apoptotic nuclei and by chromatin degradation of internucleosomal fragments. This apoptotic process is accompanied by a rapid and sustained down-regulation of Bcl-2, whereas levels of Bax are unchanged. Furthermore, hypoxic insult activates sequentially caspase-1-like and caspase-3-like proteases, following down-regulation of Bcl-2 expression. Peptide inhibitors of either caspase-1 or caspase-3 protect against neuronal death, although they do not prevent hypoxia-induced down-regulation of Bcl-2. Furthermore, treatment of cortical neurons with either insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) or basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), growth factors which are implicated to prevent neuronal loss in ischemic brain, partly prevented neuronal death accompanied by inhibition of alterations in Bcl-2 protein levels and caspase-3-like activities. These results suggest that hypoxia induces neuronal death by down-regulation of Bcl-2 protein levels followed by sequential activation of the caspases, and the protection from neuronal cell death of these growth factors under hypoxic conditions derives at least partly from their capability to prevent down-regulation of the anti-apoptotic protein levels.
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PMID:Roles of Bcl-2 and caspases in hypoxia-induced neuronal cell death: a possible neuroprotective mechanism of peptide growth factors. 968 76

Molecular mechanisms of neuronal cell death are still largely unknown. In the present study, the signal transduction pathway of cell death in cerebellar granule neurons was examined by employing various death-preventative agents. When death was induced by the depletion of serum and a depolarizing level of potassium, transient increase in active c-Jun, mitochondrial membrane potential (deltapsi) loss, activation of caspase-3 (-like) proteases, and nuclear condensation and fragmentation were observed. The protein synthesis inhibitor cycloheximide blocked all these phenomena, whereas RNA synthesis inhibitor actinomycin-D, survival factor such as insulin-like growth factor-1, brain-derived neurotrophic factor, high K+ (25 mM) and overproduced antiapoptotic protein Bcl-2, prevented deltapsi, loss, caspase activation, and nuclear change, but not an increase in active c-Jun. The caspase inhibitor z-Asp-CH2-DCB (carbobenzoxy-L-aspartyl-alpha-[(2,6-dichlorobenzoyl) oxy]methane) only inhibited activation of caspases and nuclear change. These results suggest that the death signal in cerebellar granule neurons is sequentially transduced in the order of c-Jun activation, de novo RNA synthesis, mitochondrial deltapsi loss, activation of caspase-3 (-like) proteases and nuclear change.
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PMID:Death-signalling cascade in mouse cerebellar granule neurons. 974 94

R-Ras and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) synergistically inhibit apoptosis of BaF3 cells upon interleukin-3 deprivation. To characterize the mechanism of this synergistic inhibition, we examined the effect of R-Ras and IGF-1 on several apoptosis-related proteins. Extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) was activated by IGF-1, but not by R-Ras. In contrast, Akt was activated strongly by R-Ras, but weakly by IGF-1. It was also found that R-Ras and IGF-1 cooperatively induced Bcl-xL expression and inhibited caspase-3 activation.
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PMID:Synergistic action of R-Ras and IGF-1 on Bcl-xL expression and caspase-3 inhibition in BaF3 cells: R-Ras and IGF-1 control distinct anti-apoptotic kinase pathways. 980 82

Recent studies have shown that nitric oxide (NO) donors can trigger apoptosis of neurons, and growth factors such as insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) can protect against NO-induced neuronal cell death. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the possible mechanisms of NO-mediated neuronal apoptosis and the neuroprotective action of these growth factors. Both IGF-1 and bFGF prevented apoptosis induced by NO donors, sodium nitroprusside (SNP) or 3-morpholinosydnonimin (SIN-1) in hippocampal neuronal cultures. Incubation of neurons with SNP induced caspase-3-like activation following downregulation of Bcl-2 and upregulation of Bax protein levels in cultured neurons. Treatment of neurons with a bax antisense oligonucleotide inhibited the caspase-3-like activation and neuronal death induced by SNP. In addition, treatment of neurons with an inhibitor of caspase-3, Ac-DEVD-CHO, together with SNP did not affect the changes in the protein levels, although it inhibited NO-induced cell death. Pretreatment of cultures with either IGF-1 or bFGF prior to NO exposure inhibited caspase-3-like activation together with the changes in Bcl-2 and Bax protein levels. These results suggest that the changes in Bcl-2 and Bax protein levels followed by caspase-3-like activation are a component in the cascade of NO-induced neuronal apoptosis, and that the neuroprotective actions of IGF-1 and bFGF might be due to inhibition of the changes in the protein levels of the Bcl-2 family.
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PMID:Growth factors prevent changes in Bcl-2 and Bax expression and neuronal apoptosis induced by nitric oxide. 1020 97

The tumor suppressor gene PTEN (MMAC1, TEP1) encodes a dual-specificity phosphatase and is considered a progression-associated target of genetic alterations in human gliomas. Recently, it has been reported that the introduction of wild type PTEN into glioma cells containing endogenous mutant PTEN alleles (U87MG, LN-308), but not in those which retain wild-type PTEN (LN-18, LN-229), causes growth suppression and inhibits cellular migration, spreading and focal adhesion. Here, we show that PTEN gene transfer has no effect on the chemosensitivity of the four cell lines. Further, a correlational analysis of the endogenous PTEN status of 12 human glioma cell lines with their sensitivity to seven different cancer chemotherapy drugs reveals no link between PTEN and chemosensitivity. In contrast, ectopic expression of wild type PTEN, but not the PTEN(G129R) mutant, in PTEN-mutant gliomas markedly sensitizes these cells to irradiation and to CD95-ligand (CD95L)-induced apoptosis. PTEN-mediated facilitation of CD95L-induced apoptosis is associated with enhanced CD95L-evoked caspase 3 activity. Protein kinase B (PKB/Akt), previously shown to inhibit CD95L-induced apoptosis in nonglial COS7 cells, is inactivated by dephosphorylation. Interestingly, both PTEN-mutant U87MG and PTEN-wild-type LN-229 cells contain phosphorylated PKB constitutively. Wild-type PTEN gene transfer promotes dephosphorylation of PKB specifically in U87MG cells but not in LN-229 cells. Sensitization of U87MG cells to CD95L-apoptosis by wild-type PTEN is blocked by insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1). The protection by IGF-1 is inhibited by the phosphoinositide 3-OH (PI 3) kinase inhibitor, wortmannin. Although PKB is a down-stream target of PI 3 kinase, the protection by IGF-1 was not associated with the reconstitution of PKB phosphorylation. Thus, PTEN may sensitize human malignant glioma cells to CD95L-induced apoptosis in a PI 3 kinase-dependent manner that may not require PKB phosphorylation.
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PMID:PTEN gene transfer in human malignant glioma: sensitization to irradiation and CD95L-induced apoptosis. 1043 16

Emerging data indicate that growth factors such as insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) prevent neuronal death due to nitric oxide (NO) toxicity. On the other hand, growth factors can promote cell survival by acting on phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3-kinase) and its downstream target, serine-threonine kinase Akt, in various types of cells. Here, we examined the mechanism by which IGF-1 inhibits neuronal apoptosis induced by NO in primary hippocampal neurons. IGF-1 was capable of preventing apoptosis and caspase-3-like activation induced by a NO donor, sodium nitroprusside or 3-morpholin-osydnonimine. Incubation of neurons with a P13-kinase inhibitor, wortmannin or LY294002, blocked the effects of IGF-1 on NO-induced neurotoxicity and caspase-3-like activation. In addition, the P13-kinase inhibitors blocked the effect of IGF-1 on down-regulation in Bcl-2 and upregulation in Bax expression induced by NO. Adenovirus-mediated overexpression of the activated form of Akt significantly inhibited NO-induced cell death, caspase-3-like activation, and changes in Bcl-2 and Bax expression. Moreover, expression of the kinase-defective form of Akt almost completely blocked the effects of IGF-1. These findings suggest that activation of Akt is necessary and sufficient for the effect of IGF-1 and is capable of preventing NO-induced apoptosis by modulating the NO-induced changes in Bcl-2 and Bax expression.
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PMID:Activation of Akt kinase inhibits apoptosis and changes in Bcl-2 and Bax expression induced by nitric oxide in primary hippocampal neurons. 1053 63

The type I insulin-like growth factor receptor (IGF-IR) is important for mitogenesis, transformation, and survival of tumor cells. The current study examines the effect of IGF-IR expression and activation on apoptosis in SHEP human neuroblastoma cells. SHEP cells undergo apoptosis which is prevented by IGF-I addition or overexpression of the IGF-IR (SHEP/IGF-IR cells). High mannitol treatment activates caspase-3 by 1 h in SHEP cells while caspase-3 activation is delayed by 3 h in SHEP/IGF-IR cells. Transfection with Bcl-2 (SHEP/Bcl-2 cells) prevents serum withdrawal and mannitol induced apoptosis and caspase-3 activation. Mannitol induces mitochondrial membrane depolarization in both SHEP and SHEP/IGF-IR cells. IGF-IR activation or overexpression of Bcl-2 in SHEP cells prevents mitochondrial membrane depolarization. Collectively, these results suggest that IGF-IR or Bcl-2 overexpression in neuroblastoma cells promotes cell survival by preventing mitochondrial membrane depolarization and caspase-3 activation, ultimately leading to increased tumor growth.
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PMID:IGF-I receptor activation and BCL-2 overexpression prevent early apoptotic events in human neuroblastoma. 1088 10

Hypertonic NaCl upregulated two sensitive and specific biochemical indices of apoptosis, caspase-3 activation and annexin V binding, in a time- and dose-dependent fashion in renal medullary mIMCD3 cells. Pretreatment with urea (200 mM for 30 min) protected from the proapoptotic effect of hypertonic stress (200 mosmol/kgH(2)O) in this model. The protective effect of urea was dose dependent and was effective even when applied a short time (< or =1 h) following NaCl exposure; this protective effect was not observed in the nonrenal 3T3 cell line. In both mIMCD3 and 3T3 cells, urea failed to protect from the proapoptotic stressor, ultraviolet (UV)-B irradiation. The ability of urea to protect from hypertonic stress was approximately comparable to the protective effect of peptide mitogens epidermal growth factor and insulin-like growth factor (IGF), but it potentiated the IGF effect. Interestingly, the tyrosine kinase inhibitor, genistein, potentiated the proapoptotic effect of urea yet abrogated the proapoptotic effect of hypertonic stress. In aggregate, these data indicate that urea protects from the proapoptotic effect of hypertonic stress in a potentially cell type-specific and stimulus-specific fashion.
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PMID:Urea protects from the proapoptotic effect of NaCl in renal medullary cells. 1091 55

Survival factors suppress apoptosis by activating the serine/threonine kinase Akt. To investigate the molecular mechanism underlying activated Akt's ability to protect neurons from hypoxia or nitric oxide (NO) toxicity, we focused on the apoptosis-related functions of p53 and caspases. We eliminated p53 by employing p53-deficient neurons and increased p53 by infection with recombinant adenovirus capable of transducing p53 expression, and we now show that p53 is implicated in the apoptosis induced by hypoxia or NO treatments of primary cultured hippocampal neurons. Although hypoxia and NO induced p53, treatment with insulin-like growth factor-1 significantly inhibited caspase-3-like activation, neuronal death and transcriptional activity of p53. These insulin-like growth factor-1 effects are prevented by wortmannin, a phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase inhibitor. Adenovirus-mediated expression of activated-Akt kinase suppressed p53-dependent transcriptional activation of responsive genes such as Bax, suppressed caspase-3-like protease activity and suppressed neuronal cell death with no effect on the cellular accumulation and nuclear translocation of p53. In contrast, overexpression of kinase-defective Akt failed to suppress these same activities. These results suggest a mechanism where Akt kinase activation reduces p53's transcriptional activity that ultimately rescues neurons from hypoxia- or NO-mediated cell death.
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PMID:Akt activation protects hippocampal neurons from apoptosis by inhibiting transcriptional activity of p53. 1105 21

Variability in response to chemotherapy is poorly understood. Paclitaxel-induced apoptosis was assessed in human Hs578T breast cancer cells, using the MTT assay, cell counting, morphological features and flow cytometry. Pre-dosing cells with non-glycosylated insulin-like growth factor binding protein-3 (ngIGFBP-3) had no effect on the cells per se but accentuated paclitaxel-induced apoptosis. The apoptotic pathway was further examined by measuring caspase-3 activity in cell lysates at time points over 48 hr after dosing with paclitaxel. Activity increased significantly, and Western immunoblots for caspase-3 in conditioned media showed that the inactive precursor decreased after incubation with paclitaxel. Endogenous production of IGFBP-3 by the cells after incubation with paclitaxel was evaluated using Western ligand blotting, specific IGFBP-3 immunoblotting and radioimmunoassay. Paclitaxel increased endogenous IGFBP-3, which was further increased if the cells had been pre-dosed with ngIGFBP-3. These findings suggest that IGFBP-3 may be an important modulator of paclitaxel-induced apoptosis.
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PMID:Insulin-like growth factor binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3) potentiates paclitaxel-induced apoptosis in human breast cancer cells. 1105 75


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