CBP and Extracellular Matrix-Induced Apoptosis in p53(-) HMECs: A Model of Early Mammary Carcinogenesis

Apoptosis causes characteristic morphological changes in cells, including membrane blebbing, cell detachment from the extracellular matrix, and loss of cell–cell contacts. We investigated the changes in focal adhesion proteins during etoposide-induced apoptosis in Rat-1 cells and found that during apoptosis, p130cas (Crk-associated substrate [Cas]) is cleaved by caspase-3. Sequence analysis showed that Cas contains 10 DXXD consensus sites preferred by caspase-3. We identified two of these sites (DVPD416G and DSPD748G) in vitro, and point mutations substituting the Asp of DVPD416G and DSPD748G with Glu blocked caspase-3-mediated cleavage. Cleavage at DVPD416G generated a 74-kDa fragment, which was in turn cleaved at DSPD748G, yielding 47- and 31-kDa fragments. Immunofluorescence microscopy revealed well-developed focal adhesion sites in control cells that dramatically declined in number in etoposide-treated cells. Cas cleavage correlated temporally with the onset of apoptosis and coincided with the loss of p125FAK (focal adhesion kinase [FAK]) from focal adhesion sites and the attenuation of Cas–paxillin interactions. Considering that Cas associates with FAK, paxillin, and other molecules involved in the integrin signaling pathway, these results suggest that caspase-mediated cleavage of Cas contributes to the disassembly of focal adhesion complexes and interrupts survival signals from the extracellular matrix.

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Energetics and mammary carcinogenesis: effects of moderate-intensity running and energy intake on cellular processes and molecular mechanisms in rats

Journal of Applied Physiology ◽

10.1152/japplphysiol.91201.2008 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 106 (3) ◽

pp. 911-918 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Zongjian Zhu ◽

Weiqin Jiang ◽

John N. McGinley ◽

Henry J. Thompson

Keyword(s):

Cell Cycle Progression ◽

Molecular Mechanisms ◽

Mammary Carcinogenesis ◽

Mitochondrial Pathway ◽

Moderate Intensity ◽

Free Access ◽

Sprague Dawley ◽

Cellular Processes ◽

Sprague Dawley Rats ◽

Induced Apoptosis

The objective of this experiment was to determine the effects on mammary carcinogenesis of similar limitations in energy availability either by energy expenditure due to moderate-intensity running (physical activity, PA) or by regulating dietary energy (RE) intake relative to a sedentary control (SC) group that ate ad libitum. A total of 90 female Sprague-Dawley rats were injected with 1-methyl-1-nitrosourea (50 mg/kg) and 7 days thereafter were randomized to either SC, a PA group given free access to a motorized running wheel, or a RE group whose food intake limited growth to the rate observed in PA. Compared with SC, mammary carcinogenesis was inhibited by RE or PA. Cancer incidence, 92.6%, 77.8%, and 66.7% ( P = 0.06), and cancer multiplicity, 3.44, 2.11, and 1.62 cancers/rat ( P = 0.006), in SC, RE, and PA, respectively, were reduced to a similar extent by RE and PA. Histological and Western blot analyses of mammary carcinomas provided evidence that RE and PA induced apoptosis via the mitochondrial pathway, that cell cycle progression was suppressed at the G1/S transition, and that intratumoral blood vessel density was reduced, although it remains to be determined whether PA and RE exert these effects via the same mechanisms.

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