Search results for "Enzyme Activation"
showing 10 items of 304 documents
Ultraviolet light-induced DNA damage triggers apoptosis in nucleotide excision repair-deficient cells via Bcl-2 decline and caspase-3/-8 activation.
2001
Ultraviolet (UV) light is a potent mutagenic and genotoxic agent. Whereas DNA damage induced by UV light is known to be responsible for UV-induced genotoxicity, its role in triggering apoptosis is still unclear. We addressed this issue by comparing nucleotide excision repair (NER) deficient 27-1 and 43-3B Chinese hamster (CHO) cells with the corresponding wild-type and ERCC-1 complemented cells. It is shown that NER deficient cells are dramatically hypersensitive to UV-C induced apoptosis, indicating that DNA damage is the major stimulus for the apoptotic response. Apoptosis triggered by UV-C induced DNA damage is related to caspase- and proteosome-dependent degradation of Bcl-2 protein. Th…
The DNA damage-induced decrease of Bcl-2 is secondary to the activation of apoptotic effector caspases.
2003
Apoptosis induced by DNA-damaging agents or radiation mainly proceeds through death receptor-independent caspase activation. The release of mitochondrial apoptogenic proteins, such as cytochrome c, into the cytoplasm leading to Apaf1-dependent activation of caspase-9 is a key event in this pathway. The permeability of the mitochondrial outer membrane is regulated by the various pro- and antiapoptotic Bcl-2 family proteins, and it is thought that DNA damage triggers apoptosis through the downregulation of antiapoptotic Bcl-2. Using murine embryonic fibroblasts (MEF) deficient and proficient in Apaf1, we show that DNA-damaging agents and radiation lead to a decline in Bcl-2 protein only in wt…
Acquired resistance of melanoma cells to the antineoplastic agent fotemustine is caused by reactivation of the DNA repair gene mgmt
2001
Acquired resistance to antineoplastic agents is a frequent obstacle in tumor therapy. Malignant melanoma cells are particularly well known for their unresponsiveness to chemotherapy; only about 30% of tumors exhibit a transient clinical response to treatment. In our study, we investigated the molecular mechanism of acquired resistance of melanoma cells (MeWo) to the chloroethylating drug fotemustine. Determination of O6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) activity showed that MeWo cells that acquired resistance to fotemustine upon repeated treatment with the drug display high MGMT activity, whereas the parental cell line had no detectable MGMT. The resistant cell lines exhibit cross-…
Sodium phenylbutyrate induces apoptosis in human retinoblastoma Y79 cells: The effect of combined treatment with the topoisomerase I-inhibitor topote…
2001
Our results demonstrate that sodium phenylbutyrate, a compound with a low degree of toxicity, exerted a cytotoxic effect on human retinoblastoma Y79 cells in a time- and dose-dependent manner. Treatment of Y79 cells for 72 h with phenylbutyrate reduced cell viability by 63% at 2 mM and 90% at 4 mM. Cell death caused by phenylbutyrate exhibited the typical features of apoptosis, as shown by light and fluorescent microscopy. Western blot analysis demonstrated that exposure of Y79 cells to phenylbutyrate decreased the level of the antiapoptotic factor Bcl-2 and induced the activation of caspase-3, a key enzyme in the execution phase of apoptosis. Moreover, treatment with phenylbutyrate markedl…
Temozolomide- and fotemustine-induced apoptosis in human malignant melanoma cells: response related to MGMT, MMR, DSBs, and p53
2009
Malignant melanomas are highly resistant to chemotherapy. First-line chemotherapeutics used in melanoma therapy are the methylating agents dacarbazine (DTIC) and temozolomide (TMZ) and the chloroethylating agents BCNU and fotemustine. Here, we determined the mode of cell death in 11 melanoma cell lines upon exposure to TMZ and fotemustine. We show for the first time that TMZ induces apoptosis in melanoma cells, using therapeutic doses. For both TMZ and fotemustine apoptosis is the dominant mode of cell death. The contribution of necrosis to total cell death varied between 10 and 40%. The O(6)-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) activity in the cell lines was between 0 and 1100 fmol m…
Induction of DNA breaks and apoptosis in crosslink-hypersensitive V79 cells by the cytostatic drug beta-D-glucosyl-ifosfamide mustard.
2001
To study molecular aspects of cytotoxicity of the anticancer drug β-D-glucose-ifosfamide mustard we investigated the potential of the agent to induce apoptosis and DNA breakage. Since β-D-glucose-ifosfamide mustard generates DNA interstrand crosslinks, we used as an in vitro model system a pair of isogenic Chinese hamster V79 cells differing in their sensitivity to crosslinking agents. CL-V5B cells are dramatically more sensitive (30-fold based on D10 values) to the cytotoxic effects of β-D-glucose-ifosfamide mustard as compared to parental V79B cells. After 48 h of pulse-treatment with the agent, sensitive cells but not the resistant parental line undergo apoptosis and necrosis, with apopt…
Smac induces cytochrome c release and apoptosis independently from Bax/Bcl-xL in a strictly caspase-3-dependent manner in human carcinoma cells
2004
The mitochondrial apoptosis pathway mediates cell death through the release of various pro-apoptotic factors including cytochrome c and Smac, the second mitochondrial activator of caspases, into the cytosol. Smac was shown previously to inhibit IAP proteins and to facilitate initiation of the caspase cascade upon cytochrome c release. To investigate Smac function during apoptosis and to explore Smac as an experimental cancer therapeutic, we constructed an expression system based on a single adenoviral vector containing Smac under control of the Tet-off system supplied in cis. Conditional expression of Smac induced apoptosis in human HCT116 and DU145 carcinoma cells regardless of the loss of…
Topotecan-triggered degradation of topoisomerase I is p53-dependent and impacts cell survival.
2005
Abstract The anticancer drug topotecan belongs to the group of topoisomerase I (topo I) inhibitors. In the presence of topotecan, topo I cleaves the DNA but is unable to religate the single-strand break. This leads to stabilization of topo I-DNA–bound complexes and the accumulation of DNA strand breaks that may interfere with DNA replication. The molecular mechanism of controlling the repair of topo I-DNA covalent complexes and its impact on sensitivity of cells to topotecan is largely unknown. Here, we used mouse embryonic fibroblasts expressing wild-type p53 and deficient in p53, in order to elucidate the role of p53 in topotecan-induced cell death. We show that p53-deficient mouse embryo…
The role of oxidative stress in apoptosis induced by the histone deacetylase inhibitor suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid in human colon adenocarcinoma …
2008
Histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACIs) activate genes that promote cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in a number of tumor cells. This study showed that suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA), a potent and commonly used HDACI, induced apoptosis in human colon adenocarcinoma HT-29 cells in a time- and dose-dependent manner. This effect was accompanied by the induction of oxidative stress, dissipation of mitochondrial transmembrane potential and activation of executioner caspases. Moreover, SAHA increased the levels of phosphorylated active forms of p38 and JNK. The addition of either the antioxidant N-acetylcysteine or the specific inhibitor of NADPH oxidase diphenylene iodonium chloride reduc…
Ganciclovir-induced apoptosis in HSV-1 thymidine kinase expressing cells: critical role of DNA breaks, Bcl-2 decline and caspase-9 activation.
2002
Although ganciclovir (GCV) is most often used in suicide anticancer gene therapy, the mechanism of GCV-induced cell killing and apoptosis is not fully understood. We analysed the mechanism of apoptosis triggered by GCV using a model system of CHO cells stably transfected with HSV-1 thymidine kinase (HSVtk). GCV-induced apoptosis is due to incorporation of the drug into DNA resulting in replication-dependent formation of DNA double-strand breaks and, at later stages, S and G2/M arrest. GCV-provoked DNA instability was likely to be responsible for the observed initial decline in Bcl-2 level and caspase-9/-3 activation. Further decline in the Bcl-2 level was due to cleavage of the protein by c…