0000000000855365
AUTHOR
Anja Wallrath
Human neutrophil elastase induces endothelial cell apoptosis by activating the PERK‐CHOP branch of the unfolded protein response
Human neutrophil elastase impacts on atherosclerotic plaque stability by inducing apoptosis in endothelial cells. Our aim was to investigate the proapoptotic mechanism of elastase on endothelial cells and to evaluate the presence of elastase in human plaque material. Human endothelial cells were treated with purified human neutrophil elastase. Apoptosis was assayed by capsase-3/7 activation, TUNEL, and sub-G1 assay. Activation of unfolded protein response (UPR) effector molecules binding Ig protein, soluble X-binding protein-1, protein kinase RNA-like ER kinase (PERK), and C/EBP-homologous protein (CHOP) was analyzed by RT-PCR, immunocytochemistry, and Western blot. Genetic silencing of CHO…
Synthetic (glyco-)peptides of the homophilic recognition domain of E-cadherin lead to increased E-cadherin mRNA synthesis and are inductors of cell differentiation in primary lung cancer cell lines
E-cadherin is one of the critical molecules involved in the metastatic process in many types of cancer. Once combined, E-cadherin exceeds the amount of membranous E-cadherin on the cellular surface by activation of intracellular signaling cascades. Studies on transformed keratinocytes of the HaCat cell line showed induction of differentiation by synthetical partial structures of the homophilic binding region of E-cadherin. The knowledge of effects in lung cancer cells is sparse. Therefore, the effects in primary lung cancer cell lines were investigated. Four primary lung cancer cell lines were incubated for 3, 6, 12, 15, 18, and 24h with synthetic partial structures (peptide and glycopeptid…
Activation of the Proapoptotic Unfolded Protein Response in Plaques of the Human Carotid Artery
Objective To analyze expression of keystone markers of apoptosis and the proapoptotic signaling pathway “unfolded protein response” (UPR) in rupture-prone plaques of the human carotid artery. Methods Plaque specimens were obtained during endarterectomy for high-grade carotid stenosis, and were formalin-fixed. Ten specimens were identified that exhibited criteria of advanced rupture-prone atherosclerotic plaques, and histological and immunohistological analysis of markers of apoptosis (cleaved Caspase-3, TUNEL) and UPR (KDEL, ATF3, CHOP, CHAC-1) was performed. In addition, co-localization of apoptosis and UPR-activation was assessed by double-immunohistochemistry. Results The mean size of th…