Vincent J. Kidd

Caspase 8 is deleted or silenced preferentially in childhood neuroblastomas with amplification of MYCN.

Caspase 8 is a cysteine protease regulated in both a death-receptor-dependent and -independent manner during apoptosis. Here, we report that the gene for caspase 8 is frequently inactivated in neuroblastoma, a childhood tumor of the peripheral nervous system. The gene is silenced through DNA methylation as well as through gene deletion. Complete inactivation of CASP8 occurred almost exclusively in neuroblastomas with amplification of the oncogene MYCN. Caspase 8-null neuroblastoma cells were resistant to death receptor- and doxorubicin-mediated apoptosis, deficits that were corrected by programmed expression of the enzyme. Thus, caspase 8 acts as a tumor suppressor in neuroblastomas with amplification of MYCN.

ERK activation mediates cell cycle arrest and apoptosis after DNA damage independently of p53.

In response to DNA damage, ataxia-telangiectasia mutant and ataxia-telangiectasia and Rad-3 activate p53, resulting in either cell cycle arrest or apoptosis. We report here that DNA damage stimuli, including etoposide (ETOP), adriamycin (ADR), ionizing irradiation (IR), and ultraviolet irradiation (UV) activate ERK1/2 (ERK) mitogen-activated protein kinase in primary (MEF and IMR90), immortalized (NIH3T3) and transformed (MCF-7) cells. ERK activation in response to ETOP was abolished in ATM−/− fibroblasts (GM05823) and was independent of p53. The MEK1 inhibitor PD98059 prevented ERK activation but not p53 stabilization. Maximal ERK activation in response to DNA damage was not attenuated in MEFp53−/−. However, ERK activation contributes to either cell cycle arrest or apoptosis in response to low or high intensity DNA insults, respectively. Inhibition of ERK activation by PD98059 or U0126 attenuated p21CIP1 induction, resulting in partial release of the G2/M cell cycle arrest induced by ETOP. Furthermore, PD98059 or U0126 also strongly attenuated apoptosis induced by high dose ETOP, ADR, or UV. Conversely, enforced activation of ERK by overexpression of MEK-1/Q56P sensitized cells to DNA damage-induced apoptosis. Taken together, these results indicate that DNA damage activates parallel ERK and p53 pathways in an ATM-dependent manner. These pathways might function cooperatively in cell cycle arrest and apoptosis.

Dopaminergic cell death induced by MPP+, oxidant and specific neurotoxicants shares the common molecular mechanism

Recent etiological study in twins (Tanner et al. 1999) strongly suggests that environmental factors play an important role in typical, non‐familial Parkinsons disease (PD), beginning after age 50. Epidemiological risk factor analyses of typical PD cases have identified several neurotoxicants, including MPP+ (the active metabolite of MPTP), paraquat, dieldrin, manganese and salsolinol. Here, we tested the hypothesis that these neurotoxic agents might induce cell death in our nigral dopaminergic cell line, SN4741 (Son et al. 1999) through a common molecular mechanism. Our initial experiments revealed that treatment with both MPP+ and the other PD‐related neurotoxicants induced apoptotic cell death in SN4741 cells, following initial increases of H2O2‐related ROS activity and subsequent activation of JNK1/2 MAP kinases. Moreover, we have demonstrated that during dopaminergic cell death cascades, MPP+, the neurotoxicants and an oxidant, H2O2 equally induce the ROS‐dependent events. Remarkably, the oxidant treatment alone induced similar sequential molecular events: ROS increase, activation of JNK MAP kinases, activation of the PITSLRE kinase, p110, by both Caspase‐1 and Caspase‐3‐like activities and apoptotic cell death. Pharmacological intervention using the combination of the antioxidant Trolox and a pan‐caspase inhibitor Boc‐(Asp)‐fmk (BAF) exerted significant neuroprotection against ROS‐induced dopaminergic cell death. Finally, the high throughput cDNA microarray screening using the current model identified downstream response genes, such as heme oxygenase‐1, a constituent of Lewy bodies, that can be the useful biomarkers to monitor the pathological conditions of dopaminergic neurons under neurotoxic insult.

Potentiation of neuroblastoma metastasis by loss of caspase-8.

Neuroblastoma, the most common paediatric solid tumour, arises from defective neural crest cells. Genetic alterations occur frequently in the most aggressive neuroblastomas. In particular, deletion or suppression of the proapoptotic enzyme caspase-8 is common in malignant, disseminated disease, although the effect of this loss on disease progression is unclear. Here we show that suppression of caspase-8 expression occurs during the establishment of neuroblastoma metastases in vivo, and that reconstitution of caspase-8 expression in deficient neuroblastoma cells suppressed their metastases. Caspase-8 status was not a predictor of primary tumour growth; rather, caspase-8 selectively potentiated apoptosis in neuroblastoma cells invading the collagenous stroma at the tumour margin. Apoptosis was initiated by unligated integrins by means of a process known as integrin-mediated death. Loss of caspase-8 or integrin rendered these cells refractory to integrin-mediated death, allowed cellular survival in the stromal microenvironment, and promoted metastases. These findings define caspase-8 as a metastasis suppressor gene that, together with integrins, regulates the survival and invasive capacity of neuroblastoma cells.

PITSLRE protein kinase activity is associated with apoptosis.

Minimal ectopic expression of a 58-kDa protein kinase (PITSLRE beta 1), distantly related to members of the cdc2 gene family, induces telophase delay, abnormal chromosome segregation, and decreased growth rates in Chinese hamster ovary cells. Here we show that this decrease in cell growth rate is due to apoptosis. Apoptosis is also induced by ectopic expression of an amino-terminal deletion mutant containing the catalytic and C-terminal domains of PITSLRE beta 1 but not by other mutants lacking histone H1 kinase activity or by other members of the cdc2 gene family. However, unlike the wild-type PITSLRE beta 1 over-expressors, ectopic expression of the N-terminal PITSLRE beta 1 mutant does not result in telophase delay or abnormal chromosome segregation. These results suggested that the function of this protein kinase could be linked to apoptotic signaling. To test this hypothesis, we examined levels of PITSLRE mRNA, steady-state protein, and enzyme activity in human T cells undergoing apoptosis after activation with the anti-Fas monoclonal antibody (MAb). All were substantially elevated shortly after Fas MAb treatment. In addition to new transcription and translation, proteolysis contributed to the increased steady-state levels of a novel 50-kDa PITSLRE protein, as suggested by the diminution of larger PITSLRE isoforms observed in the same cells. Indeed, treatment of the Fas-activated T cells with a serine protease inhibitor prevented apoptotic death and led to the accumulation of larger, less active PITSLRE kinase isoforms but not the enzymatically active 50-kDa PITSLRE isoform. Finally, induction of apoptosis by glucocorticoids in the same cell line, as well as by Fas MAb treatment of another T-cell line, led to a similar induction of 50-kDa PITSLRE protein levels over time. These findings suggest that (i) PITSLRE kinase(s) may lie within apoptotic signaling pathway(s), (ii) serine protease activation may be an early event in Fas-activated apoptosis of human T cells, and (iii) some PITSLRE kinase isoforms may be targets of apoptotic proteases.

Mutant p53 cooperates with ETS and selectively up-regulates human MDR1 not MRP1.

The most frequently expressed drug resistance genes, MDR1 and MRP1, occur in human tumors with mutant p53. However, it was unknown if mutant p53 transcriptionally regulated both MDR1 and MRP1. We demonstrated that mutant p53 did not activate either theMRP1 promoter or the endogenous gene. In contrast, mutant p53 strongly up-regulated the MDR1 promoter and expression of the endogenous MDR1 gene. Notably, cells that expressed either a transcriptionally inactive mutant p53 or the empty vector showed no endogenous MDR1 up-regulation. Transcriptional activation of the MDR1 promoter by mutant p53 required anEts binding site, and mutant p53 and Ets-1 synergistically activated MDR1 transcription. Biochemical analysis revealed that Ets-1 interacted exclusively with mutant p53s in vivobut not with wild-type p53. These findings are the first to demonstrate the induction of endogenous MDR1 by mutant p53 and provide insight into the mechanism.

Cleavage of DFF-45/ICAD by Multiple Caspases Is Essential for Its Function during Apoptosis

Apoptosis involves the proteolysis of specific cellular proteins by a group of cysteine proteases known as caspases. Many of these cellular targets are either functionally inactivated (e.g. poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase) or activated (e.g. other caspases, gelsolin) by such processing, thereby facilitating the cell death process. Caspase 3 is involved in the processing of many of these proteins. Recently, however, it was reported that caspase 3 is dispensable for the cleavage of a large number of cellular caspase substrates during apoptosis. Among these substrates is DFF-45/ICAD, a subunit of the heterodimeric DNA fragmentation factor (DFF), otherwise known as caspase-activated DNase (CAD), that mediates genomic DNA degradation during apoptosis. Conversely, others have reported that caspase 3 is essential for the cleavage and activation of DFF-45/ICAD. To resolve this controversy we examined DFF-45/ICAD processing during apoptosis in MCF-7 breast carcinoma cells that lack functional caspase 3 and in MCF-7 cells expressing caspase 3. We found that DFF-45/ICAD is cleaved by two distinct caspases, one of which is caspase 3. Furthermore, cleavage of the carboxyl-terminal region of DFF-45/ICAD, which is necessary for activation of the enzyme, requires functional caspase 3. In the absence of caspase 3 cleavage of the amino-terminal region of DFF-45/ICAD by another caspase occurs, but the DFF-45 enzyme remains inactive.

Cycloheximide-induced T-cell Death Is Mediated by a Fas-associated Death Domain-dependent Mechanism

Cycloheximide (CHX) can contribute to apoptotic processes, either in conjunction with another agent (e.g. tumor necrosis factor-α) or on its own. However, the basis of this CHX-induced apoptosis has not been clearly established. In this study, the molecular mechanisms of CHX-induced cell death were examined in two different human T-cell lines. In T-cells undergoing CHX-induced apoptosis (Jurkat), but not in T-cells resistant to the effects of CHX (CEM C7), caspase-8 and caspase-3 were activated. However, the Fas ligand was not expressed in Jurkat cells either before or after treatment with CHX, suggesting that the activation of these caspases does not involve the Fas receptor. To determine whether CHX-induced apoptosis was mediated by a Fas-associated death domain (FADD)-dependent mechanism, a FADD-DN protein was expressed in cells prior to CHX treatment. Its expression effectively inhibited CHX-induced cell death, suggesting that CHX-mediated apoptosis primarily involves a FADD-dependent mechanism. Since CHX treatment did not result in the induction of Fas or FasL, and neutralizing anti-Fas and anti-tumor necrosis factor receptor-1 antibodies did not block CHX-mediated apoptosis, these results may also indicate that FADD functions in a receptor-independent manner. Surprisingly, death effector filaments containing FADD and caspase-8 were observed during CHX treatment of Jurkat, Jurkat-FADD-DN, and CEM C7 cells, suggesting that their formation may be necessary, but not sufficient, for cell death.

Aggressive childhood neuroblastomas do not express caspase-8: an important component of programmed cell death

Neuroblastomas that overexpress N-Myc due to amplification of the MYCN oncogene are aggressive tumors that become very resistant to treatment by chemotherapy and irradiation. to identify tumor suppressor genes in this group of neuroblastomas we analyzed the expression and function of both apoptosis-related cell cycle regulatory genes in cell lines and patient tumor samples. We found that in a high percentage of neuroblastoma cell lines and patient samples with amplified MYCN, caspase-8 mRNA is not expressed. The caspase-8 gene, CASP8, was deleted or silenced by methylation in the neuroblastoma cell lines while methylation of its promoter region was the predominant mechanism for its inactivation in the patient tumor samples. Reintroduction of caspase-8 into the neuroblastoma cell lines resensitized these cells to drug-induced and survival factor dependent apoptosis. Subsequently others have also shown that caspase-8 is silenced by methylation in neuroblastoma and peripheral neural ectodermal tumors, and that the caspase-9 regulator Apaf-1 is silenced by methylation in melanoma cell lines and patient samples. We conclude that caspase-8 acts as a tumor suppressor gene in neuroblastomas, that its silencing provides a permissive environment for MYCN gene amplification once the tumors are treated with chemotherapeutic drugs/irradiation, and that expression of this gene in these tumor cells may be of clinical benefit. We also discuss the possible significance of the neural crest cell progenitor cell origin and the silencing of important apoptotic regulators via methylation in both neuroblastoma and melanoma tumors.

ASAP, a novel protein complex involved in RNA processing and apoptosis.

ABSTRACT Different isoforms of a protein complex termed the apoptosis- and splicing-associated protein (ASAP) were isolated from HeLa cell extract. ASAP complexes are composed of the polypeptides SAP18 and RNPS1 and different isoforms of the Acinus protein. While Acinus had previously been implicated in apoptosis and was recently identified as a component of the spliceosome, RNPS1 has been described as a general activator of RNA processing. Addition of ASAP isoforms to in vitro splicing reactions inhibits RNA processing mediated by ASF/SF2, by SC35, or by RNPS1. Additionally, microinjection of ASAP complexes into mammalian cells resulted in acceleration of cell death. Importantly, after induction of apoptosis the ASAP complex disassembles. Taken together, our results suggest an important role for the ASAP complexes in linking RNA processing and apoptosis.