Search results for "death"
showing 10 items of 1744 documents
Cannabinoid-associated cell death mechanisms in tumor models
2012
In recent years, cannabinoids (the active compo- nents of Cannabis sativa) and their derivatives have received considerable interest due to findings that they can affect the viability and invasiveness of a variety of different cancer cells. Moreover, in addition to their inhibitory effects on tumor growth and migration, angiogenesis and metastasis, the ability of these compounds to induce different pathways of cell death has been highlighted. Here, we review the most recent results generating interest in the field of death mechanisms induced by cannabinoids in cancer cells. In particular, we analyze the pathways triggered by cannabinoids to induce apoptosis or autophagy and investigate the …
Spontaneous and Fas-induced apoptosis of low-grade MDS erythroid precursors involves the endoplasmic reticulum
2008
Spontaneous apoptosis of bone marrow erythroid precursors accounts for the anemia that characterizes most low-grade myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). We have shown that death of these precursors involved the Fas-dependent activation of caspase-8. To explore the pathway leading from caspase-8 activation to apoptosis, we transduced MDS bone marrow CD34(+) cells with a lentivirus encoding wild-type (WT) or endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-targeted Bcl-2 protein before inducing their erythroid differentiation. Both WT-Bcl-2 and ER-targeted Bcl-2 prevented spontaneous and Fas-dependent apoptosis in MDS erythroid precursors. ER-targeted Bcl-2 inhibited mitochondrial membrane depolarization and cytochrom…
In BCR-ABL-positive cells, STAT-5 tyrosine-phosphorylation integrates signals induced by imatinib mesylate and Ara-C.
2003
In BCR-ABL-positive cells, the transcription factor STAT-5 is constitutively activated by tyrosine phosphorylation. STAT-5 activation results in upregulation of bcl-X(L) and increased resistance to induction of apoptosis. Here, we investigated the effects of imatinib mesylate and cytosine arabinoside (Ara-C) on STAT-5 tyrosine-phosphorylation, cellular proliferation and induction of apoptosis in cell lines and primary hematopoietic cells. Imatinib mesylate treatment strongly suppressed STAT-5 tyrosine-phosphorylation in K562 and primary CML blasts. In contrast to JAK-2 and PI-3-kinase inhibition, exposure of K562 cells to imatinib mesylate resulted in obvious suppression of proliferation. R…
Mcl-1 is an anti-apoptotic factor for human hepatocellular carcinoma
2005
Defects in apoptosis signaling in hepatocytes contribute to tumorigenesis in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In addition, treatment with chemotherapeutic drugs is often ineffective in HCC patients due to the apoptosis resistance of cancer cells. Anti-apoptotic members of the Bcl-2 family, including myeloid cell leukemia-1 (Mcl-1), which regulate intrinsic apoptosis induction at the mito-chondrial level, are often overexpressed in human cancer, and are implicated with disease grade and prognosis. Yet, little is known about the role of Mcl-1 in HCC. In this study, we analyzed the relevance of Mcl-1 expression for the apop-tosis resistance of human HCC. Mcl-1 protein expression was considerabl…
Transforming Growth Factor-β–Mediated Tumor Necrosis Factor-Related Apoptosis-Inducing Ligand Expression and Apoptosis in Hepatoma Cells Requires Fun…
2008
Abstract Transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) has been shown to induce apoptotic cell death in normal and transformed hepatocytes. We recently identified tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) as an important mediator of TGF-β–induced apoptosis in hepatoma cells. In this study, we have further explored the mechanism by which TGF-β up-regulates TRAIL expression. The 5′-flanking region of the TRAIL gene was isolated and characterized. Deletion mutants of the 5′-untranslated region of the TRAIL gene revealed a region comprising nucleotides −1950 to −1100 responsible for TRAIL induction following treatment with TGF-β. Within this region, we have identified an activator …
Effective infection, apoptotic cell killing and gene transfer of human hepatoma cells but not primary hepatocytes by parvovirus H1 and derived vector…
2001
Autonomous parvoviruses preferentially replicate in and kill in vitro–transformed cells and reduce the incidence of spontaneous and implanted tumors in animals. Because of these natural oncotropic and oncolytic properties, parvoviruses deserve to be considered as potential antitumor vectors. Here, we assessed whether parvovirus H1 is able to kill human hepatoma cells by induction of apoptosis but spares primary human liver cells, and whether the former cells can efficiently be transduced by H1 virus–based vectors. Cell death, infectivity, and transgene transduction were investigated in Hep3B, HepG2, and Huh7 cells and in primary human hepatocytes with natural and recombinant H1 virus. All h…
Hsp72 controls bortezomib-induced HepG2 cell death via interaction with pro-apoptotic factors.
2007
The proteasome inhibitor bortezomib is an efficacious inducer of apoptosis in the hepatoma HepG2 cell line. This study shows that bortezomib increased in these cells the level of the survival factor Hsp72 in a time- and dose-dependent manner. In a first phase of treatment, Hsp72 rapidly increased so that at 24 h of incubation with 50 nM bortezomib its level was approximately five-fold higher than the control. In this phase Hsp72 seemed to play a role in preventing HepG2 cell death, since it interacted with and sequestered the pro-apoptotic factors p53, AIF, Bax and Apaf-1. During a second day of treatment, although the nuclear levels of Hsp72, p53 and AIF increased, the interaction of Hsp72…
Chemotherapy-induced apoptosis in hepatocellular carcinoma involves the p53 family and is mediatedviathe extrinsic and the intrinsic pathway
2010
We investigated the downstream mechanisms by which chemotherapeutic drugs elicit apoptosis in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Genomic signatures of HCC cell lines treated with different chemotherapeutic drugs were obtained. Analyses of apoptosis pathways were performed and RNA interference was used to evaluate the role of the p53 family. Endogenous p53, p63 and p73 were upregulated in response to DNA damage by chemotherapeutic drugs. Blocking p53 family function led to chemoresistance in HCC. Stimulation and blocking experiments of the CD95-, the TNF- and the TRAIL-receptor systems revealed that cytotoxic drugs, via the p53 family members as transactivators, can trigger expression of each o…
IFN-alpha-induced apoptosis in hepatocellular carcinoma involves promyelocytic leukemia protein and TRAIL independently of p53.
2009
Abstract IFNs are pleiotropic cytokines that have been shown to be important regulators of cell growth. IFN-α has recently been recognized to harbor therapeutic potential in prevention and treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, HCC cells respond differentially to IFN treatment, the mechanism of which is largely unknown. To address this issue, we analyzed the effect of IFN-α on different liver tumor cell lines. We found that growth inhibiting effects of IFN-α in hepatoma cells require PML-NB induction and, moreover, tumor necrosis factor–related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) expression on the mRNA and protein level. RNAi silencing of PML down-regulates TRAIL expression in …
Histone deacetylase inhibitors induce in human hepatoma HepG2 cells acetylation of p53 and histones in correlation with apoptotic effects
2007
This report shows that histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACIs) induced apoptosis in human hepatoma HepG2 cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Trichostatin A (TSA), ITF2357 and suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA), which were very effective agents, caused apoptotic effects after a lag phase of 12-16 h. In order to elucidate the mechanism of HDACIs action in HepG2 cells we have studied the effects of TSA, ITF2357 and SAHA on acetylation of p53 and histones H2A, H2B, H3 and H4. It was observed that HDACIs rapidly induced acetylation of these proteins, being the effects clearly visible already at 30 min of treatment at the same doses which caused apoptosis. Analysis of the immunocomple…