The caspase-dependent activation of cyclin-dependent kinases (Cdks) in varied cell types in response to disparate suicidal stimuli has prompted our examination of the role of Cdks in cell death. We have tested the functional role of Cdk activity in cell death genetically, with the expression of dominant negative Cdk mutants (DN-Cdks) and Cdk inhibitory genes. Here we demonstrate that Cdk2 activ...

BACKGROUND Caspases are downstream elements of apoptosis-mediating pathways initiated by the Fas ligand/Fas receptor system which is supposed to play a central role in the regulation of apoptosis in the human seminiferous epithelium. However, caspase activity in different cell types of this epithelium has never been addressed. METHODS AND RESULTS We evaluated caspase activity and DNA integrit...

Bacterial endotoxin (lipopolysaccharide [LPS]) is a potent inducer of human dendritic cell (DC) maturation and survival. Here we show that immature DCs exposed to LPS trigger an early and sustained caspase-like activity, which can be blocked by zVAD (z-Val-Ala-Asp), in the absence of detectable caspase 8 and caspase 10 activation, or poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP)-cleaving activity. Prevent...

Introduction The proinflammatory enzyme caspase-1 belongs to the family of cystein proteases and plays a pivotal role in innate immunity. Classically, caspase-1 mediated proinflammatory signaling is thought to be dependent on its enzymatic activity. Interestingly, a number of patients carrying variants of the CASP1 gene show proinflammatory symptoms like febrile episodes despite of reduced enzy...

Tumours evolve several mechanisms to evade apoptosis, yet many resected carcinomas show significantly elevated caspase activity. Moreover, caspase activity is positively correlated with tumour aggression and adverse patient outcome. These observations indicate that caspases might have a functional role in promoting tumour invasion and metastasis. Using a Drosophila model of invasion, we show th...

Cytotoxic activity profiling of the n-hexane extract from fruit pulp Ginkgo biloba L. (Gingkgoaceae) led to purification 8 compounds. HPLC based identified a cytotoxic alkenylresorcinol. The was further separated by time-based fractionation in gradient condition, and cytotoxicity each fraction evaluated using 293, B16F10, BJAB, HCT116 cancer cells vitro. Bilobol isolated as an active constituen...

Caspase-14 is a cysteine endoproteinase that is expressed in the epidermis and a limited number of other tissues. It is activated during keratinocyte differentiation by zymogen processing, but its precise function is unknown. To obtain caspase-14 for functional studies, we engineered and expressed a constitutively active form of human caspase-14 (Rev-hC14) in Escherichia coli and cultured mamma...

The interaction between the cysteine proteases calpain and caspases during renal ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) was investigated. An increase in the activity of calpain, as determined by 1) the appearance of calpain-mediated spectrin breakdown products and 2) the conversion of procalpain to active calpain, was demonstrated. Because intracellular calpain activity is regulated by calpastatin, the eff...