scholarly journals Lamin proteolysis facilitates nuclear events during apoptosis.

1996 ◽  
Vol 135 (6) ◽  
pp. 1441-1455 ◽  
Author(s):  
L Rao ◽  
D Perez ◽  
E White
Keyword(s):  
Cell Death ◽  
Aspartic Acid ◽  
Transcriptional Activation ◽  
Chromatin Condensation ◽  
Interleukin 1 ◽  
Cysteine Proteases ◽  
Lamin A ◽  
Nuclear Lamins ◽  
Cell Death Pathway ◽  
Nuclear Events

Expression of the adenovirus E1A oncogene stimulates both cell proliferation and p53-dependent apoptosis in rodent cells. p53 implements apoptosis in all or in part through transcriptional activation of bax, the product of which promotes cell death. The adenovirus E1B 19K product is homologous in sequence and in function to Bcl-2, both of which bind to and inhibit the activity of Bax and thereby suppress apoptosis. The E1B 19K protein also interacts with the nuclear lamins, but the role of this interaction in the regulation of apoptosis is not known. Lamins are, however, substrates for members of the interleukin-1 beta-converting enzyme (ICE) family of cysteine proteases that are activated during apoptosis and function downstream of Bcl-2 in the cell death pathway. lamins are degraded during E1A-induced p53-dependent apoptosis. Lamin A and C are cleaved into 47- and 37-kD fragments, respectively, and the site of proteolysis is mapped to a conserved aspartic acid residue at position 230. The cleavage of lamins during apoptosis is consistent with the activation of an ICE-related cysteine protease down-stream of p53. No lamin protease activity was detected in cells expressing the E1B 19K protein, indicating that 19K functions upstream of protease activation in inhibiting apoptosis. Substitution of the aspartic acid at the cleavage site produced a mutant lamin protein that was resistant to proteolysis both in vitro and in vivo. Expression of uncleavable mutant lamin A or B attenuated apoptosis, delaying cell death and the associated DNA fragmentation by 12 h. Mutant lamin expressing cells failed to show the signs of chromatin condensation and nuclear shrinkage typical of cell death by apoptosis. Instead, the nuclear envelope collapsed and the nuclear lamina remained intact. However, the late stage of apoptosis was morphologically unaltered and formation of apoptotic bodies was evident. Thus, lamin breakdown by proteolytic degradation facilitates the nuclear events of apoptosis perhaps by facilitating nuclear breakdown.

scholarly journals Inhibition of Ced-3/ICE-related Proteases Does Not Prevent Cell Death Induced by Oncogenes, DNA Damage, or the Bcl-2 Homologue Bak

1997 ◽  
Vol 136 (1) ◽  
pp. 215-227 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicola J. McCarthy ◽  
Moira K.B. Whyte ◽  
Christopher S. Gilbert ◽  
Gerard I. Evan
Keyword(s):  
Dna Damage ◽  
Cell Death ◽  
Chromatin Condensation ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Ectopic Expression ◽  
Cysteine Proteases ◽  
Proliferative Potential ◽  
Nuclear Lamins ◽  
Absolute Requirement ◽  
Kinetics Of

There is increasing evidence for a central role in mammalian apoptosis of the interleukin-1β– converting enzyme (ICE) family of cysteine proteases, homologues of the product of the nematode “death” gene, ced-3. Ced-3 is thought to act as an executor rather than a regulator of programmed cell death in the nematode. However, it is not known whether mammalian ICE-related proteases (IRPs) are involved in the execution or the regulation of mammalian apoptosis. Moreover, an absolute requirement for one or more IRPs for mammalian apoptosis has yet to be established. We have used two cell-permeable inhibitors of IRPs, Z-Val-Ala-Asp.fluoromethylketone (ZVAD.fmk) and t-butoxy carbonyl-Asp.fluoromethylketone (BD.fmk), to demonstrate a critical role for IRPs in mammalian apoptosis induced by several disparate mechanisms (deregulated oncogene expression, ectopic expression of the Bcl-2 relative Bak, and DNA damage–induced cell death). In all instances, ZVAD.fmk and BD.fmk treatment inhibits characteristic biochemical and morphological events associated with apoptosis, including cleavage of nuclear lamins and poly-(ADP-ribose) polymerase, chromatin condensation and nucleosome laddering, and external display of phosphatidylserine. However, neither ZVAD.fmk nor BD.fmk inhibits the onset of apoptosis, as characterized by the onset of surface blebbing; rather, both act to delay completion of the program once initiated. In complete contrast, IGF-I and Bcl-2 delay the onset of apoptosis but have no effect on the kinetics of the program once initiated. Our data indicate that IRPs constitute part of the execution machinery of mammalian apoptosis induced by deregulated oncogenes, DNA damage, or Bak but that they act after the point at which cells become committed to apoptosis or can be rescued by survival factors. Moreover, all such blocked cells have lost proliferative potential and all eventually die by a process involving cytoplasmic blebbing.

scholarly journals Commitment and Effector Phases of the Physiological Cell Death Pathway Elucidated with Respect to Bcl-2, Caspase, and Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Activities

1998 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 2912-2922 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin J. Harvey ◽  
James F. Blomquist ◽  
David S. Ucker
Keyword(s):  
Cell Death ◽  
Caspase 3 ◽  
Chromatin Condensation ◽  
Cysteine Proteases ◽  
Death Process ◽  
Common Mechanism ◽  
Cyclin Dependent Kinase ◽  
Conserved Sequence ◽  
Cell Death Pathway ◽  
Physiological Cell Death

ABSTRACT Physiological cell deaths occur ubiquitously throughout biology and have common attributes, including apoptotic morphology with mitosis-like chromatin condensation and prelytic genome digestion. The fundamental question is whether a common mechanism of dying underlies these common hallmarks of death. Here we describe evidence of such a conserved mechanism in different cells induced by distinct stimuli to undergo physiological cell death. Our genetic and quantitative biochemical analyses of T- and B-cell deaths reveal a conserved pattern of requisite components. We have dissected the role of cysteine proteases (caspases) in cell death to reflect two obligate classes of cytoplasmic activities functioning in an amplifying cascade, with upstream interleukin-1β-converting enzyme-like proteases activating downstream caspase 3-like caspases. Bcl-2 spares cells from death by punctuating this cascade, preventing the activation of downstream caspases while leaving upstream activity undisturbed. This observation permits an operational definition of the stages of the cell death process. Upstream steps, which are necessary but not themselves lethal, are modulators of the death process. Downstream steps are effectors of, and not dissociable from, actual death; the irreversible commitment to cell death reflects the initiation of this downstream phase. In addition to caspase 3-like proteases, the effector phase of death involves the activation in the nucleus of cell cycle kinases of the cyclin-dependent kinase (Cdk) family. Nuclear recruitment and activation of Cdk components is dependent on the caspase cascade, suggesting that catastrophic Cdk activity may be the actual effector of cell death. The conservation of the cell death mechanism is not reflected in the molecular identity of its individual components, however. For example, we have detected different cyclin-Cdk pairs in different instances of cell death. The ordered course of events that we have observed in distinct cases reflects essential thematic elements of a conserved sequence of modulatory and effector activities comprising a common pathway of physiological cell death.

scholarly journals Role of Ced-3/ICE-family proteases in staurosporine-induced programmed cell death.

1996 ◽  
Vol 133 (5) ◽  
pp. 1041-1051 ◽  
Author(s):  
M D Jacobsen ◽  
M Weil ◽  
M C Raff
Keyword(s):  
Cell Death ◽  
Programmed Cell Death ◽  
Mammalian Cell ◽  
Mammalian Cells ◽  
Apoptotic Cell ◽  
Interleukin 1 ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Cysteine Proteases ◽  
A Cell ◽  
Bona Fide

In the accompanying paper by Weil et al. (1996) we show that staurosporine (STS), in the presence of cycloheximide (CHX) to inhibit protein synthesis, induces apoptotic cell death in a large variety of nucleated mammalian cell types, suggesting that all nucleated mammalian cells constitutively express all of the proteins required to undergo programmed cell death (PCD). The reliability of that conclusion depends on the evidence that STS-induced, and (STS + CHS)-induced, cell deaths are bona fide examples of PCD. There is rapidly accumulating evidence that some members of the Ced-3/Interleukin-1 beta converting enzyme (ICE) family of cysteine proteases are part of the basic machinery of PCD. Here we show that Z-Val-Ala-Asp-fluoromethylketone (zVAD-fmk), a cell-permeable, irreversible, tripeptide inhibitor of some of these proteases, suppresses STS-induced and (STS + CHX)-induced cell death in a wide variety of mammalian cell types, including anucleate cytoplasts, providing strong evidence that these are all bona fide examples of PCD. We show that the Ced-3/ICE family member CPP32 becomes activated in STS-induced PCD, and that Bcl-2 inhibits this activation. Most important, we show that, in some cells at least, one or more CPP32-family members, but not ICE itself, is required for STS-induced PCD. Finally, we show that zVAD-fmk suppresses PCD in the interdigital webs in developing mouse paws and blocks the removal of web tissue during digit development, suggesting that this inhibition will be a useful tool for investigating the roles of PCD in various developmental processes.

scholarly journals Fas Induces Cytoplasmic Apoptotic Responses and Activation of the MKK7-JNK/SAPK and MKK6-p38 Pathways Independent of CPP32-like Proteases

1997 ◽  
Vol 139 (4) ◽  
pp. 1005-1015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fumiko Toyoshima ◽  
Tetsuo Moriguchi ◽  
Eisuke Nishida
Keyword(s):  
Cell Death ◽  
Dna Fragmentation ◽  
Morphological Changes ◽  
Chromatin Condensation ◽  
Cysteine Proteases ◽  
Cellular Responses ◽  
Jurkat Cells ◽  
Mitogen Activated Protein Kinase ◽  
Fas Signaling ◽  
Induced Apoptosis

IL-1β converting enzyme (ICE) family cysteine proteases are subdivided into three groups; ICE-, CPP32-, and Ich-1–like proteases. In Fas-induced apoptosis, activation of ICE-like proteases is followed by activation of CPP32-like proteases which is thought to be essential for execution of the cell death. It was recently reported that two subfamily members of the mitogen-activated protein kinase superfamily, JNK/SAPK and p38, are activated during Fas-induced apoptosis. Here, we have shown that MKK7, but not SEK1/ MKK4, is activated by Fas as an activator for JNK/ SAPK and that MKK6 is a major activator for p38 in Fas signaling. Then, to dissect various cellular responses induced by Fas, we used several peptide inhibitors for ICE family proteases in Fas-treated Jurkat cells and KB cells. While Z-VAD-FK which inhibited almost all the Fas-induced cellular responses blocked the activation of JNK/SAPK and p38, Ac-DEVD-CHO and Z-DEVD-FK, specific inhibitors for CPP32-like proteases, which inhibited the Fas-induced chromatin condensation and DNA fragmentation did not block the activation of JNK/SAPK and p38. Interestingly, these DEVD-type inhibitors did not block the Fas-induced morphological changes (cell shrinkage and surface blebbing), induction of Apo2.7 antigen, or the cell death (as assessed by the dye exclusion ability). These results suggest that the Fas-induced activation of the JNK/SAPK and p38 signaling pathways does not require CPP32-like proteases and that CPP32-like proteases, although essential for apoptotic nuclear events (such as chromatin condensation and DNA fragmentation), are not required for other apoptotic events in the cytoplasm or the cell death itself. Thus, the Fas signaling pathway diverges into multiple, separate processes, each of which may be responsible for part of the apoptotic cellular responses.

scholarly journals Fas activation of the p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase signalling pathway requires ICE/CED-3 family proteases.

1997 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
P Juo ◽  
C J Kuo ◽  
S E Reynolds ◽  
R F Konz ◽  
J Raingeaud ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cell Death ◽  
Interleukin 1 ◽  
Cysteine Proteases ◽  
Mitogen Activated Protein Kinase ◽  
Regulatory Relationship ◽  
Downstream Target ◽  
Upstream Regulator ◽  
Mitogen Activated Protein ◽  
Stress Kinase ◽  
Activation Cascade

The Fas receptor mediates a signalling cascade resulting in programmed cell death (apoptosis) within hours of receptor cross-linking. In this study Fas activated the stress-responsive mitogen-activated protein kinases, p38 and JNK, within 2 h in Jurkat T lymphocytes but not the mitogen-responsive kinase ERK1 or pp70S6k. Fas activation of p38 correlated temporally with the onset of apoptosis, and transfection of constitutively active MKK3 (glu), an upstream regulator of p38, potentiated Fas-induced cell death, suggesting a potential involvement of the MKK3/p38 activation pathway in Fas-mediated apoptosis. Fas has been shown to require ICE (interleukin-1 beta-converting enzyme) family proteases to induce apoptosis from studies utilizing the cowpox ICE inhibitor protein CrmA, the synthetic tetrapeptide ICE inhibitor YVAD-CMK, and the tripeptide pan-ICE inhibitor Z-VAD-FMK. In this study, crmA antagonized, and YVAD-CMK and Z-VAD-FMK completely inhibited, Fas activation of p38 kinase activity, demonstrating that Fas-dependent activation of p38 requires ICE/CED-3 family members and conversely that the MKK3/p38 activation cascade represents a downstream target for the ICE/CED-3 family proteases. Intriguingly, p38 activation by sorbitol and etoposide was resistant to YVAD-CMK and Z-VAD-FMK, suggesting the existence of an additional mechanism(s) of p38 regulation. The ICE/CED-3 family-p38 regulatory relationship described in the current work indicates that in addition to the previously described destructive cleavage of substrates such as poly(ADP ribose) polymerase, lamins, and topoisomerase, the apoptotic cysteine proteases also function to regulate stress kinase signalling cascades.

scholarly journals Caspase-Dependent Cdk Activity Is a Requisite Effector of Apoptotic Death Events

2000 ◽  
Vol 148 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin J. Harvey ◽  
Dunja Lukovic ◽  
David S. Ucker
Keyword(s):  
Cell Death ◽  
Chromatin Condensation ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Dominant Negative ◽  
Caspase Activity ◽  
Cell Death Pathway ◽  
Apoptotic Death ◽  
Cdk2 Activity ◽  
Caspase Cascade

The caspase-dependent activation of cyclin-dependent kinases (Cdks) in varied cell types in response to disparate suicidal stimuli has prompted our examination of the role of Cdks in cell death. We have tested the functional role of Cdk activity in cell death genetically, with the expression of dominant negative Cdk mutants (DN-Cdks) and Cdk inhibitory genes. Here we demonstrate that Cdk2 activity is necessary for death-associated chromatin condensation and other manifestations of apoptotic death, including cell shrinkage and the loss of adhesion to substrate. Susceptibility to the induction of the cell death pathway, including the activation of the caspase cascade, is unimpaired in cells in which Cdk2 activity is inhibited. The direct visualization of active caspase activity in these cells confirms that death-associated Cdk2 acts downstream of the caspase cascade. Cdk inhibition also does not prevent the loss of mitochondrial membrane potential and membrane phospholipid asymmetry, which may be direct consequences of caspase activity, and dissociates these events from apoptotic condensation. Our data suggest that caspase activity is necessary, but not sufficient, for the full physiological cell death program and that a requisite function of the proteolytic caspase cascade is the activation of effector Cdks.

scholarly journals Bax- and Bak-induced cell death in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe.

1997 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 325-339 ◽  
Author(s):  
J M Jürgensmeier ◽  
S Krajewski ◽  
R C Armstrong ◽  
G M Wilson ◽  
T Oltersdorf ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cell Death ◽  
Schizosaccharomyces Pombe ◽  
Fission Yeast ◽  
Mammalian Cells ◽  
Animal Cell ◽  
Chromatin Condensation ◽  
Interleukin 1 ◽  
Microscopic Analysis ◽  
Animal Cells ◽  
Electron Microscopic

The effects of the expression of the human Bcl-2 family proteins Bax, Bak, Bcl-2, and Bcl-XL were examined in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe and compared with Bax-induced cell death in mammalian cells. Expression of the proapoptotic proteins Bax and Bak conferred a lethal phenotype in this yeast, which was strongly suppressed by coexpression of the anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-XL. Bcl-2 also partially abrogated Bax-mediated cytotoxicity in S. pombe, whereas a mutant of Bcl-2 (Gly145Ala) that fails to heterodimerize with Bax or block apoptosis in mammalian cells was inactive. However, other features distinguished Bax- and Bak-induced death in S. pombe from animal cell apoptosis. Electron microscopic analysis of S. pombe cells dying in response to Bax or Bak expression demonstrated massive cytosolic vacuolization and multifocal nuclear chromatin condensation, thus distinguishing this form of cell death from the classical morphological features of apoptosis seen in animal cells. Unlike Bax-induced apoptosis in 293 cells that led to the induction of interleukin-1 beta-converting enzyme (ICE)/CED-3-like protease activity, Bax- and Bak-induced cell death in S. pombe was accompanied neither by internucleosomal DNA fragmentation nor by activation of proteases with specificities similar to the ICE/CED-3 family. In addition, the baculovirus protease inhibitor p35, which is a potent inhibitor of ICE/CED-3 family proteases and a blocker of apoptosis in animal cells, failed to prevent cell death induction by Bax or Bak in fission yeast, whereas p35 inhibited Bax-induced cell death in mammalian cells. Taken together, these findings suggest that Bcl-2 family proteins may retain an evolutionarily conserved ability to regulate cell survival and death but also indicate differences in the downstream events that are activated by overexpression of Bax or Bak in divergent cell types.

Involvement of ICE family proteases in apoptosis induced by reoxygenation of hypoxic hepatocytes

1996 ◽  
Vol 271 (6) ◽  
pp. G949-G958 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Shimizu ◽  
Y. Eguchi ◽  
W. Kamiike ◽  
Y. Akao ◽  
H. Kosaka ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cell Death ◽  
Chromatin Condensation ◽  
Interleukin 1 ◽  
Membrane Integrity ◽  
Morphological Characteristics ◽  
Electrophoretic Analysis ◽  
Dna Fragments ◽  
Electron Microscopic ◽  
Triggering Factor ◽  
Induced Apoptosis

Cell death due to reoxygenation after hypoxia was characterized in primary cultured hepatocytes. Fluorescence and electron microscopic analyses of reoxygenated hepatocytes revealed morphological characteristics of apoptosis, including chromatin condensation, nuclear fragmentation, and formation of apoptotic bodies. Few necrotic hepatocytes, defined by loss of plasma membrane integrity, mitochondrial swelling, and formation of large vacuoles, were observed. Activation of interleukin-1 beta-converting enzyme (ICE)-like and CPP32/Yama-like proteases, which are known to drive apoptosis, was observed during reoxygenation, and addition of their respective inhibitors inhibited the induction of apoptosis, indicating the involvement of ICE family proteases in apoptosis by reoxygenation. Production of oxygen radicals was enhanced by reoxygenation of hypoxic cells, and reoxygenation-induced apoptosis was inhibited by oxygen radical scavengers, suggesting a role for reactive oxygen species as a triggering factor in cell death. Electrophoretic analysis revealed the presence of 50-kb DNA fragments but not oligonucleosomal DNA fragments in reoxygenation-induced apoptotic hepatocytes.

Natural killer cell–derived human granzyme H induces an alternative, caspase-independent cell-death program

Blood ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 110 (2) ◽  
pp. 544-552 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward Fellows ◽  
Shirley Gil-Parrado ◽  
Dieter E. Jenne ◽  
Florian C. Kurschus
Keyword(s):  
Cell Death ◽  
Natural Killer ◽  
Serine Proteases ◽  
Chromatin Condensation ◽  
Killer Cell ◽  
Immune Defense ◽  
Host Cells ◽  
Ros Generation ◽  
Immune Effector ◽  
Cell Death Pathway

Abstract Granzyme H (GzmH) belongs to a family of 5 human serine proteases that are expressed by cytotoxic immune effector cells. Although GzmH is most closely related to the caspase-activating granzyme B (GzmB), neither a natural substrate nor a role in immune defense reactions has been demonstrated for this orphan granzyme. In rodents, multiple related genes exist, but none of these can be regarded as functional homologs. Here we show that host cells are efficiently killed by GzmH after perforin and streptolysin O–mediated delivery into the cytosol. Dying cells show typical hallmarks of programmed cell death, such as mitochondrial depolarization, reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, DNA degradation, and chromatin condensation. Contrary to GzmB, cell death by GzmH does not involve the activation of executioner caspases, the cleavage of Bid or inhibitor of caspase-activated DNase (ICAD), or the release of cytochrome c. The high expression levels of GzmH in naive natural killer (NK) cells and its potent killing ability strongly support the role of the protease in triggering an alternative cell-death pathway in innate immunity.

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