scholarly journals Calpain is required for macroautophagy in mammalian cells

2006 ◽  
Vol 175 (4) ◽  
pp. 595-605 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesca Demarchi ◽  
Cosetta Bertoli ◽  
Tamara Copetti ◽  
Isei Tanida ◽  
Claudio Brancolini ◽  
...  

Ubiquitously expressed micro- and millicalpain, which both require the calpain small 1 (CAPNS1) regulatory subunit for function, play important roles in numerous biological and pathological phenomena. We have previously shown that the product of GAS2, a gene specifically induced at growth arrest, is an inhibitor of millicalpain and that its overexpression sensitizes cells to apoptosis in a p53-dependent manner (Benetti, R., G. Del Sal, M. Monte, G. Paroni, C. Brancolini, and C. Schneider. 2001. EMBO J. 20:2702–2714). More recently, we have shown that calpain is also involved in nuclear factor κB activation and its relative prosurvival function in response to ceramide, in which calpain deficiency strengthens the proapoptotic effect of ceramide (Demarchi, F., C. Bertoli, P.A. Greer, and C. Schneider. 2005. Cell Death Differ. 12:512–522). Here, we further explore the involvement of calpain in the apoptotic switch and find that in calpain-deficient cells, autophagy is impaired with a resulting dramatic increase in apoptotic cell death. Immunostaining of the endogenous autophagosome marker LC3 and electron microscopy experiments demonstrate that autophagy is impaired in CAPNS1-deficient cells. Accordingly, the enhancement of lysosomal activity and long-lived protein degradation, which normally occur upon starvation, is also reduced. In CAPNS1-depleted cells, ectopic LC3 accumulates in early endosome-like vesicles that may represent a salvage pathway for protein degradation when autophagy is defective.

2012 ◽  
Vol 287 (9) ◽  
pp. 6230-6239 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clyde J. Wright ◽  
Fadeke Agboke ◽  
Manasa Muthu ◽  
Katherine A. Michaelis ◽  
Miles A. Mundy ◽  
...  

2000 ◽  
Vol 68 (12) ◽  
pp. 7087-7093 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y.-H. Li ◽  
Z.-Q. Yan ◽  
J. Skov Jensen ◽  
K. Tullus ◽  
A. Brauner

ABSTRACT Chronic lung disease (CLD) of prematurity is an inflammatory disease with a multifactorial etiology. The importance ofUreaplasma urealyticum in the development of CLD is debated, and steroids produce some improvement in neonates with this disease. In the present study, the capability of U. urealyticum to stimulate rat alveolar macrophages to produce nitric oxide (NO), express inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), and activate nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) in vitro was characterized. The effect of NO on the growth of U. urealyticum was also investigated. In addition, the impact of dexamethasone and budesonide on these processes was examined. We found that U. urealyticum antigen (≥4 × 107 color-changing units/ml) stimulated alveolar macrophages to produce NO in a dose- and time-dependent manner (P < 0.05). This effect was further enhanced by gamma interferon (100 IU/ml; P < 0.05) but was attenuated by budesonide and dexamethasone (10−4 to 10−6 M) (P < 0.05). The mRNA and protein levels of iNOS were also induced in response to U. urealyticum and inhibited by steroids.U. urealyticum antigen triggered NF-κB activation, a possible mechanism for the induced iNOS expression, which also was inhibited by steroids. NO induced by U. urealyticum caused a sixfold reduction of its own growth after infection for 10 h. Our findings imply that U. urealyticum may be an important factor in the development of CLD. The host defense response againstU. urealyticum infection may also be influenced by NO. The down-regulatory effect of steroids on NF-κB activation, iNOS expression, and NO production might partly explain the beneficial effect of steroids in neonates with CLD.


2000 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 153-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Belinda S. Hall ◽  
Winnie Tam ◽  
Ranjan Sen ◽  
Miercio E. A. Pereira

The transcription factor nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) is central to the innate and acquired immune response to microbial pathogens, coordinating cellular responses to the presence of infection. Here we demonstrate a direct role for NF-κB activation in controlling intracellular infection in nonimmune cells. Trypanosoma cruzi is an intracellular parasite of mammalian cells with a marked preference for infection of myocytes. The molecular basis for this tissue tropism is unknown. Trypomastigotes, the infectious stage of T. cruzi, activate nuclear translocation and DNA binding of NF-κB p65 subunit and NF-κB-dependent gene expression in epithelial cells, endothelial cells, and fibroblasts. Inactivation of epithelial cell NF-κB signaling by inducible expression of the inhibitory mutant IκBaM significantly enhances parasite invasion.T. cruzi do not activate NF-κB in cells derived from skeletal, smooth, or cardiac muscle, despite the ability of these cells to respond to tumor necrosis factor-α with NF-κB activation. The in vitro infection level in these muscle-derived cells is more than double that seen in the other cell types tested. Therefore, the ability of T. cruzi to activate NF-κB correlates inversely with susceptibility to infection, suggesting that NF-κB activation is a determinant of the intracellular survival and tissue tropism ofT. cruzi.


2008 ◽  
Vol 76 (10) ◽  
pp. 4600-4608 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karin Heine ◽  
Sascha Pust ◽  
Stefanie Enzenmüller ◽  
Holger Barth

ABSTRACT The binary C2 toxin from Clostridium botulinum mono-ADP-ribosylates G-actin in the cytosol of eukaryotic cells. This modification leads to depolymerization of actin filaments accompanied by cell rounding within 3 h of incubation but does not immediately induce cell death. Here we investigated the long-term responses of mammalian cell lines (HeLa and Vero) following C2 toxin treatment. Cells stayed round even though the toxin was removed from the medium after its internalization into the cells. No unmodified actin reappeared in the C2 toxin-treated cells within 48 h. Despite actin being completely ADP-ribosylated after about 7 h, no obvious decrease in the overall amount of actin was observed for at least 48 h. Therefore, ADP-ribosylation was not a signal for an accelerated degradation of actin in the tested cell lines. C2 toxin treatment resulted in delayed apoptotic cell death that became detectable about 15 to 24 h after toxin application in a portion of the cells. Poly(ADP)-ribosyltransferase 1 (PARP-1) was cleaved in C2 toxin-treated cells, an indication of caspase 3 activation and a hallmark of apoptosis. Furthermore, specific caspase inhibitors prevented C2 toxin-induced apoptosis, implying that caspases 8 and 9 were activated in C2 toxin-treated cells. C2I, the ADP-ribosyltransferase component of the C2 toxin, remained active in the cytosol for at least 48 h, and no extensive degradation of C2I was observed. From our data, we conclude that the long-lived nature of C2I in the host cell cytosol was essential for the nonreversible cytotoxic effect of C2 toxin, resulting in delayed apoptosis of the tested mammalian cells.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document