Search results for "Activation"

Differential Roles of JNK in ConA/GalN and ConA-Induced Liver Injury in Mice

2008

Tumor necrosis factor-alpha-mediated liver injury can be induced by several different means; however, the signaling events and mechanisms of cell death are likely different. We investigated the mechanism of both apoptotic and necrotic hepatocyte cell death as well as the role of c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase (JNK) in the ConA and ConA/D-galactosamine (GalN) models of murine liver injury. ConA alone induced primarily necrotic cell death with no caspase activation, whereas ConA/GalN induced apoptosis in addition to necrotic cell death. The bi-modal death pattern in the ConA/GalN model was confirmed by the use of transgenic mice expressing a dominant-negative form of Fas-associated death domain in…

Selective targeting of activated T cells in chronic intestinal inflammation

2009

Programmed cell death (apoptosis) has been implicated in normal biological processes as well as in the pathology of human diseases.1 The characterisation of genes involved in apoptosis has been pursued intensively and led to the identification of two major classes of genes: the bcl-2 family and the caspase family. Caspases are proteases that cleave their target substrates at specific peptide sequences and during apoptosis the activation of caspases takes place in a cascade fashion, leading to nuclear engulfment and cell death. Thus, caspases represent key functional components of the apoptosis pathway in human cells. Resistance against apoptosis is a key phenomenon in various chronic inflam…

Macrophage-mediated clearance of cells undergoing caspase-3-independent death

2003

Little is known of the functions of caspases in mediating the surface changes required for phagocytosis of dying cells. Here we investigate the role played by the effector caspase, caspase-3 in this process using the caspase-3-defective MCF-7 breast carcinoma line and derived caspase-3-expressing transfectants. Our results indicate that, while certain typical features of apoptosis induced by etoposide - namely classical morphological changes and the ability to degrade DNA into oligonucleosomal fragments - are caspase-3-dependent, loss of cell adhesion to plastic and the capacity to interact with, and to be phagocytosed by, human monocyte-derived macrophages - both by CD14-dependent and CD14…

α-Tocopherol impairs 7-ketocholesterol-induced caspase-3-dependent apoptosis involving GSK-3 activation and Mcl-1 degradation on 158N murine oligoden…

2011

Abstract In important and severe neurodegenerative pathologies, 7-ketocholesterol, mainly resulting from cholesterol autoxidation, may contribute to dys- or demyelination processes. On various cell types, 7-ketocholesterol has often been shown to induce a complex mode of cell death by apoptosis associated with phospholipidosis. On 158N murine oligodendrocytes treated with 7-ketocholesterol (20 μg/mL corresponding to 50 μM, 24–48 h), the induction of a mode of cell death by apoptosis characterised by the occurrence of cells with condensed and/or fragmented nuclei, caspase activation (including caspase-3) and internucleosomal DNA fragmentation was observed. It was associated with a loss of tr…

Cisplatin-induced apoptosis in 43-3B and 27-1 cells defective in nucleotide excision repair

2001

Cisplatin is a highly potent cytotoxic and genotoxic agent used in the chemotherapy of various types of tumors. Its cytotoxic effect is supposed to be due to the induction of intra- and interstrand DNA cross-links which are repaired via the nucleotide excision repair (NER) pathway. Here, we elucidated the mechanism of cisplatin-induced cytotoxicity in mutants derived from CHO-9 cells defective in NER. We compared 43-3B and 27-1 cells deficient for ERCC1 and ERCC3, respectively, with the corresponding wild-type and ERCC1 complemented 43-3B cells. It is shown that cells defective in ERCC1 are more sensitive than cells defective in ERCC3 with regard to cisplatin-induced reproductive cell death…

Berberine inhibits cell growth and mediates caspase-independent cell death in human pancreatic cancer cells.

2010

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most aggressive human malignancies with an increasing incidence worldwide. In addition to the poor survival rates, combinations using gemcitabine as a backbone have failed to show any benefit beyond monotherapy. These facts underscore an urgent need for novel therapeutic options and motivated us to study the effect of berberine on pancreatic cancer cells. Here, we undertook an mRNA-based gene expression profiling study in order to get deeper insight into the molecular targets mediating the growth inhibitory effects of berberine on pancreatic cancer cells compared to normal ones. Twenty-four hours after treatment, berberine showed preferential selectivity towa…

Seprase-DPPIV Association and Prolyl Peptidase and Gelatinase Activities of the Protease Complex

2005

Role of toxin activation on binding and pore formation activity of the Bacillus thuringiensis Cry3 toxins in membranes of Leptinotarsa decemlineata (…

2004

AbstractBinding and pore formation constitute key steps in the mode of action of Bacillus thuringiensis δ-endotoxins.In this work, we present a comparative analysis of toxin-binding capacities of proteolytically processed Cry3A, Cry3B and Cry3C toxins to brush border membranes (BBMV) of the Colorado potato beetle Leptinotarsa decemlineata (CPB), a major potato coleopteran-insect pest. Competition experiments showed that the three Cry3 proteolytically activated toxins share a common binding site. Also heterologous competition experiments showed that Cry3Aa and Cry3Ca toxins have an extra binding site that is not shared with Cry3Ba toxin. The pore formation activity of the three different Cry…

Investigation of the steps involved in the difference of susceptibility of Ephestia kuehniella and Spodoptera littoralis to the Bacillus thuringiensi…

2011

BUPM95 is a Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. kurstaki strain producing the Vip3Aa16 toxin with an interesting insecticidal activity against the Lepidopteran larvae Ephestia kuehniella. Study of different steps in the mode of action of this Vegetative Insecticidal Protein on the Mediterranean flour moth (E. kuehniella) was carried out in the aim to investigate the origin of the higher susceptibility of this insect to Vip3Aa16 toxin compared to that of the Egyptian cotton leaf worm Spodoptera littoralis. Using E. kuehniella gut juice, protoxin proteolysis generated a major band corresponding to the active toxin and another band of about 22kDa, whereas the activation of Vip3Aa16 by S. littoralis …

Analysis of serine proteases from marine sponges by 2-D zymography.

2007

Proteolytic activities isolated from the marine demosponges Geodia cydonium and Suberites domuncula were analyzed by 2-D zymography, a technique that combines IEF and zymography. After purification, a 200 kDa proteolytically active protein band was obtained from G. cydonium when analyzed in gelatin copolymerized 1-D zymograms. The enzymatic activity was quantified using alpha-N-benzoyl-D-arginine p-nitroanilide (BAPNA) as a substrate and corresponded to a serine protease. The protease activity was resistant to urea and SDS. DTT and 2-mercaptoethanol (2-ME) did not significantly change the protease activity, but induced a shift in molecular mass of the proteolytic band to lower M(r) values a…