Loss of caspase-8 expression does not correlate with MYCN amplification, aggressive disease, or prognosis in neuroblastoma.
(1/40)
Inactivation of caspase-8 because of aberrant gene methylation has been associated with amplification of the MYCN oncogene and aggressive disease in neuroblastoma, suggesting that caspase-8 may function as tumor suppressor. However, the prognostic effect of caspase-8 in neuroblastoma has remained obscure. Therefore, we investigated caspase-8 expression and its correlation with established prognostic markers and survival outcome in a large cohort of neuroblastoma patients. Here, we report that loss of caspase-8 protein expression occurs in the majority (75%) of neuroblastoma and is not restricted to advanced disease stages. Surprisingly, no correlation was observed between caspase-8 expression and MYCN amplification. Similarly, ectopic expression of MYCN or antisense-mediated down-regulation of MYCN had no effect on caspase-8 expression in neuroblastoma cell lines. In addition, caspase-8 expression did not correlate with other variables of high-risk disease (e.g., 1p36 aberrations, disease stage, age at diagnosis, or tumor histology). Most importantly, loss of caspase-8 protein had no effect on event-free or overall survival in the overall study population or in distinct subgroups of patients. By revealing no correlation between caspase-8 expression and MYCN amplification or other established variables of aggressive disease, our findings in a large cohort of neuroblastoma patients show that inactivation of caspase-8 is not a characteristic feature of aggressive neuroblastoma. Thus, our study provides novel insight into the biology of this tumor, which may have important clinical implications. (+info)
Caspase-8 and c-FLIPL associate in lipid rafts with NF-kappaB adaptors during T cell activation.
(2/40)
Humans and mice lacking functional caspase-8 in T cells manifest a profound immunodeficiency syndrome due to defective T cell antigen receptor (TCR)-induced NF-kappaB signaling and proliferation. It is unknown how caspase-8 is activated following T cell stimulation, and what is the caspase-8 substrate(s) that is necessary to initiate T cell cycling. We observe that following TCR ligation, a small portion of total cellular caspase-8 and c-FLIP(L) rapidly migrate to lipid rafts where they associate in an active caspase complex. Activation of caspase-8 in lipid rafts is followed by rapid cleavage of c-FLIP(L) at a known caspase-8 cleavage site. The active caspase.c-FLIP complex forms in the absence of Fas (CD95/APO1) and associates with the NF-kappaB signaling molecules RIP1, TRAF2, and TRAF6, as well as upstream NF-kappaB regulators PKC theta, CARMA1, Bcl-10, and MALT1, which connect to the TCR. The lack of caspase-8 results in the absence of MALT1 and Bcl-10 in the active caspase complex. Consistent with this observation, inhibition of caspase activity attenuates NF-kappaB activation. The current findings define a link among TCR, caspases, and the NF-kappaB pathway that occurs in a sequestered lipid raft environment in T cells. (+info)
Lidocaine induces apoptosis via the mitochondrial pathway independently of death receptor signaling.
(3/40)
BACKGROUND: Local anesthetics, especially lidocaine, can lead to persistent cauda equina syndrome after spinal anesthesia. Recently, lidocaine has been reported to trigger apoptosis, although the underlying mechanisms remain unknown. To elucidate the pathway of lidocaine-induced apoptosis, the authors used genetically modified cells with overexpression or deficiencies of key regulators of apoptosis. METHODS: Human Jurkat T-lymphoma cells overexpressing the antiapoptotic protein B-cell lymphoma 2 as well as cells deficient of caspase 9, caspase 8, or Fas-associated protein with death domain were exposed to lidocaine and compared with parental cells. The authors evaluated cell viability, mitochondrial alterations, cytochrome c release, caspase activation, and early apoptosis. Apoptosis was in addition investigated in neuroblastoma cells. RESULTS: In Jurkat cells, lidocaine reduced viability, associated with a loss of the mitochondrial membrane potential. At low concentrations (3-6 mm) of lidocaine, caspase 3 was activated and release of cytochrome c was detected, whereas at higher concentrations (10 mm), no caspase activation was found. Apoptosis by lidocaine was strongly reduced by B-cell lymphoma-2 protein overexpression or caspase-9 deficiency, whereas cells lacking the death receptor pathway components caspase 8 and Fas-associated protein with death domain were not protected and displayed similar apoptotic alterations as the parental cells. Lidocaine also induced apoptotic caspase activation in neuroblastoma cells. CONCLUSIONS: Apoptosis is triggered by concentrations of lidocaine occurring intrathecally after spinal anesthesia, whereas higher concentrations induce necrosis. The data indicate that death receptors are not involved in lidocaine-induced apoptosis. In contrast, the observation that B-cell lymphoma-2 protein overexpression or the lack of caspase 9 abolished apoptosis clearly implicates the intrinsic mitochondrial death pathway in lidocaine-induced apoptosis. (+info)
A Fas-associated death domain protein/caspase-8-signaling axis promotes S-phase entry and maintains S6 kinase activity in T cells responding to IL-2.
(4/40)
Fas-associated death domain protein (FADD) constitutes an essential component of TNFR-induced apoptotic signaling. Paradoxically, FADD has also been shown to be crucial for lymphocyte development and activation. In this study, we report that FADD is necessary for long-term maintenance of S6 kinase (S6K) activity. S6 phosphorylation at serines 240 and 244 was only observed after long-term stimulation of wild-type cells, roughly corresponding to the time before S-phase entry, and was poorly induced in T cells expressing a dominantly interfering form of FADD (FADDdd), viral FLIP, or possessing a deficiency in caspase-8. Defects in S6K1 phosphorylation were also observed. However, defective S6K1 phosphorylation was not a consequence of a wholesale defect in mammalian target of rapamycin function, because 4E-BP1 phosphorylation following T cell activation was unaffected by FADDdd expression. Although cyclin D3 up-regulation and retinoblastoma hypophosphorylation occurred normally in FADDdd T cells, cyclin E expression and cyclin-dependent kinase 2 activation were markedly impaired in FADDdd T cells. These results demonstrate that a FADD/caspase-8-signaling axis promotes T cell cycle progression and sustained S6K activity. (+info)
Novel noncatalytic role for caspase-8 in promoting SRC-mediated adhesion and Erk signaling in neuroblastoma cells.
(5/40)
Neuroblastomas are extremely aggressive, although heterogeneous, cancers with a poor prognosis upon metastasis. Some evidence has suggested a correlative silencing of caspase-8 with MYCN amplification in neuroblastoma. A prognostic effect of this silencing, however, has been disputed. We report here hitherto undescribed roles for caspase-8 in the modulation of cell adhesion and subsequent activation of the Erk signaling pathway. Re-expression of caspase-8 in neuroblastoma cells lacking endogenous caspase-8 expression was found to promote cell adhesion to extracellular matrix and to activate adhesion-dependent signaling pathways, such as the Erk kinase cascade. This function of caspase-8 occurred irrespective of its proteolytic activity. Additionally, a pool of caspase-8 was shown to co-localize with the Src tyrosine kinase at the cellular periphery. Furthermore, our studies showed that caspase-8 forms a physical protein complex with Src via its death effector domains (DED) and maintains the complex in a detergent-soluble fraction. We also show that the DEDs of caspase-8 alone are necessary and sufficient to recreate the adhesive and biochemical phenotypes observed with the full-length protein, suggesting that caspase-8 may exert these effects via its association with Src. This protein complex association of caspase-8 and Src, and concomitant downstream signaling events, may help reconcile why a potential tumor suppressor such as caspase-8 is rarely absent in cancers. (+info)
Genetic defects of apoptosis and primary immunodeficiency.
(6/40)
Mutation of a self-processing site in caspase-8 compromises its apoptotic but not its nonapoptotic functions in bacterial artificial chromosome-transgenic mice.
(8/40)
Caspase-8, the proximal enzyme in the death-induction pathway of the TNF/nerve growth factor receptor family, is activated upon juxtaposition of its molecules within the receptor complexes and is then self-processed. Caspase-8 also contributes to the regulation of cell survival and growth, but little is known about the similarities or the differences between the mechanisms of these nonapoptotic functions and of the enzyme's apoptotic activity. In this study, we report that in bacterial artificial chromosome-transgenic mice, in which the aspartate residue upstream of the initial self-processing site in caspase-8 (D387) was replaced by alanine, induction of cell death by Fas is compromised. However, in contrast to caspase-8-deficient mice, which die in utero at mid-gestation, the mice mutated at D387 were born alive and seemed to develop normally. Moreover, mice with the D387A mutation showed normal in vitro growth responses of T lymphocytes to stimulation of their Ag receptor as well as of B lymphocytes to stimulation by LPS, normal differentiation of bone marrow macrophage precursors in response to M-CSF, and normal generation of myeloid colonies by the bone marrow hematopoietic progenitors, all of which are compromised in cells deficient in caspase-8. These finding indicated that self-processing of activated caspase-8 is differentially involved in the different functions of this enzyme: it is needed for the induction of cell death through the extrinsic cell death pathway but not for nonapoptotic functions of caspase-8. (+info)