OSW-1 is a new member of cholestane saponin family, which is cytotoxic against several types of malignant cells. We reported herein that OSW-1 induced apoptosis of mammalian cells in a concentration- and time-dependent manner. The drug-induced apoptosis was mediated through the mitochondrial pathway, involving the cleavage of Bcl-2. This drug-induced Bcl-2 cleavage in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO...

Caspase-3, the essential effector caspase, plays a pivotal role during caspase-dependent apoptosis. In this study, we isolated and characterized caspase-3A gene from common carp. The common carp caspase-3A comprising 273 amino acids showed 71.8% sequence similarity and 59.3% sequence identity to human caspase-3. It exhibited an evolutionarily conserved structure of mammalian caspase-3 genes, in...

A hallmark of Entamoeba histolytica (Eh) invasion in the gut is acute intestinal inflammation dominated by secretion pro-inflammatory cytokines. Eh contact with macrophages activates caspase-1 recruitment NLRP3 inflammasome complex a Gal-lectin and cysteine proteases 5 (EhCP-A5)-dependent manner, resulting maturation interleukin (IL)-1β IL-18. Although it well-defined that activation important ...

Cleavage of huntingtin (htt) has been characterized in vitro, and accumulation of caspase cleavage fragments represents an early pathological change in brains of Huntington's disease (HD) patients. However, the relationship between htt proteolysis and the pathogenesis of HD is unknown. To determine whether caspase cleavage of htt is a key event in the neuronal dysfunction and selective neurodeg...

In the present study, we quantitatively analysed the interface between apoptosis initiation and execution by determining caspase-8 activation, Bid cleavage and mitochondrial engagement (onset of mitochondrial depolarisation) in individual HeLa cervical cancer cells following exposure to tumour-necrosis-factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL). Employing resonance-energy-transfer probes ...

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE Rosmarinic acid (RA), a major hydrosoluble bioactive compound found in the Chinese medicinal herb, Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge, which has been used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat various diseases, including cancer. However, the mechanisms have not been fully elucidated. AIM OF THE STUDY Guided by microarray hybridization and Ingenuity Pathway Analysis, w...

We previously demonstrated that tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-induced ceramide production by endosomal acid sphingomyelinase (A-SMase) couples to apoptosis signalling via activation of cathepsin D and cleavage of Bid, resulting in caspase-9 and caspase-3 activation. The mechanism of TNF-mediated A-SMase activation within the endolysosomal compartment is poorly defined. Here, we show that TNF-ind...

Caspase-8 is a member of the cysteine-aspartic acid protease (caspase) family which plays a central role in apoptosis and development. We screened caspase-8 interacting proteins from mouse T-cell lymphoma and 7.5-day embryo cDNA libraries by yeast two-hybrid system and obtained eleven positive clones, including Vacuolar protein sorting 41 (Vps41), a protein involved in trafficking of proteins f...

ABSRTACT Coxiella burnetii is an obligate intracellular bacterium that causes Query (Q) fever, a zoonotic disease. It requires a functional type IV secretion system (T4SS) which translocate bacterial effector proteins into the host cell cytoplasm and thereby facilitates bacterial replication. To date, more than 130 effector proteins have been identified, but their functions remain largely unkno...

Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV), also known as human herpesvirus-8, is the causative agent of three hyperproliferative disorders: Kaposi's sarcoma, primary effusion lymphoma (PEL) and multicentric Castleman's disease. During viral latency a small subset of viral genes are produced, including KSHV latency-associated nuclear antigen (LANA), which help the virus thwart cellular defe...