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We have developed a versatile and rapid method for the quantitative estimation of cell death kinetics, following direct single-shot activation of the mitochondrial death pathway by a cell permeable BH3 activator peptide (D-R8BH3BID). This approach employs timelapse epifluorescent imaging of live cells and a machine- vision based feature extraction algorithm, to measure unidirectional stochastic transitions...
The underlying molecular mechanism whereby hyperglycemia causes endothelial cell apoptosis is not well understood. This study aims to elucidate the role of survival factor VEGF involved in the apoptosis of endothelial cells induced by elevated glucose. The present study confirmed that high concentration of glucose (25 mmol/l) significantly increased the apoptotic cell number in cultured primary human...
The sustained overproduction of nitric oxide (NO) observed in inflammatory conditions can contribute to cell demise by affecting apoptosis. Nitration of tyrosine residues occurs in a range of diseases involving macrophage activation. Since NO induces apoptosis in monocytes/macrophages, we tested the hypothesis that nitration of specific proteins could result in apoptotic cell death. The peroxynitrite...
Caspase-3, -6 and -7 cleave many proteins at specific sites to induce apoptosis. Their recognition of the P5 position in substrates has been investigated by kinetics, modeling and crystallography. Caspase-3 and -6 recognize P5 in pentapeptides as shown by enzyme activity data and interactions observed in the crystal structure of caspase-3/LDESD and in a model for caspase-6. In caspase-3 the P5 main-chain...
Ascoviruses (AVs) induce a unique pathology in their insect host cells causing cleavage of the cells into virion-containing vesicles. The mechanism by which AVs induce vesicle formation is poorly understood. It is postulated that the virus initially induces apoptosis leading to cell fragmentation. The apoptotic bodies are however, rescued by the virus to form the vesicles. Here we show that Heliothis virescens...
Apoptosis of vascular smooth muscle cells (SMCs) is a prominent feature of blood vessel remodeling. Here we investigated the effect of 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol 13-acetate (TPA) on SMC apoptosis. We found that TPA treatment induced SMC apoptosis through the rapid downregulation of Akt phosphorylation. The inhibition of Akt activation by TPA was markedly reduced by inhibitors of protein phosphatase...
Nitric oxide (NO) is a reactive secondary mediator, which has been found to participate in cell cycle regulation and apoptosis in myeloid macrophages, the key effectors of inflammatory and innate immune responses. However, the molecular mechanisms of nitric oxide-induced death of myeloid macrophages are not well understood. In this study we have found that NO derived from S-nitrosoglutathione (GSNO)...
Withaferin A (WA) is present abundantly in Withania somnifera, a well-known Indian medicinal plant. Here we demonstrate how WA exhibits a strong growth-inhibitory effect on several human leukemic cell lines and on primary cells from patients with lymphoblastic and myeloid leukemia in a dose-dependent manner, showing no toxicity on normal human lymphocytes and primitive hematopoietic progenitor cells...
There is increasing evidence that the active contribution of hepatocytes to liver disease is strongly dependent on local cytokine environment. It has been shown in vitro that TNFα can enhance hepatocyte FasLigand (FasL)-mediated cytotoxicity. Here, we demonstrate that TNFα-induced apoptosis was associated with Fas and FasL upregulation and that a FasL-neutralizing antibody prevented TNFα-induced apoptosis...
Fas-induced apoptosis is initiated through the recruitment of FADD and procaspase 8 to form the death-inducing signaling complex (DISC). In some cells (type I cells) the initiator caspase 8 directly activates effector caspases such as procaspase 3, whereas in others (type II cells) the death signal is amplified through mitochondria. In epithelial cells, Fas-induced hierarchic caspase activation is...
Withaferin A, a major chemical constituent of Withania somnifera, has been reported for its tumor cell growth inhibitory activity, antitumor effects, and impairing metastasis and angiogenesis. The mechanism by which withaferin A initiates apoptosis remains poorly understood. In the present report, we investigated the effect of withaferin A on the apoptotic pathway in U937 human promonocytic cells...
The aim of this study is to identify potential gene and protein targets when nuclear factor kappa B (NFκB) and c-jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) were inversely expressed in oral tumors. To determine which genes were regulated synergistically by the inverse expression of NFκB and JNK, a pathway specific microarray analysis was performed. While either inhibition of NFκB or activation of JNK alone was unable...
Pancreatic cancer is one of the most common invasive malignancies and the fourth leading cause of cancer related mortality in U.S., thus developing new strategies to control pancreatic cancer is an important mission. We investigated the mechanism of capsaicin, the major pungent ingredient of red-chili pepper, in inducing apoptosis in pancreatic cancer cells. Treatment of AsPC-1 and BxPC-3 cells with...
Our previous studies revealed that Docetaxel-induced apoptosis of melanoma cells is entirely dependent on activation of the JNK signalling pathway. Here, we show that Docetaxel-induced apoptosis is mediated by induction of ER stress. This was shown by Docetaxel-induced activation of proteins involved in ER stress signalling namely GRP78, ATF6, IRE1α, and PERK/eIF2α. Knockdown of IRE1α by siRNA markedly...
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