Cell death induction by the acute promyelocytic leukemia-specific PML/RARα fusion protein

PML/RARα is the abnormal protein product generated by the acute promyelocytic leukemia-specific t(15;17). Expression of PML/RARα in hematopoietic precursor cell lines induces block of differentiation and promotes survival. We report here that PML/RARα has a potent growth inhibitory effect on all nonhematopoietic cell lines and on the majority of the hematopoietic cell lines tested. Inducible expression of PML/RARα in fibroblasts demonstrated that the basis for the growth suppression is induction of cell death. Deletion of relevant promyelocytic leukemia (PML) and retinoic acid receptor (RARα) domains within the fusion protein revealed that its growth inhibitory effect depends on the integrity of the PML aminoterminal region (RING, B1, B2, and coiled coil regions) and the RARα DNA binding region. Analysis of the nuclear localization of the same PML/RARα deletion mutants by immunofluorescence and cell fractionation revealed that the biological activity of the fusion protein correlates with its microspeckled localization and its association to the nuclear matrix. The PML aminoterminal region, but not the RARα zinc fingers, is required for the proper nuclear localization of PML/RARα. We propose that the matrix-associated microspeckles are the active sites of PML/RARα and that targeting of RARα sequences to this specific nuclear subdomain through PML sequences is crucial to the activity of the fusion protein on survival regulation.

NF-κB and AP-1 Activation by Nitric Oxide Attenuated Apoptotic Cell Death in RAW 264.7 Macrophages

A toxic dose of the nitric oxide (NO) donor S-nitrosoglutathione (GSNO; 1 mM) promoted apoptotic cell death of RAW 264.7 macrophages, which was attenuated by cellular preactivation with a nontoxic dose of GSNO (200 μM) or with lipopolysaccharide, interferon-γ, and NG-monomethyl-l-arginine (LPS/IFN-γ/NMMA) for 15 h. Protection from apoptosis was achieved by expression of cyclooxygenase-2 (Cox-2). Here we investigated the underlying mechanisms leading to Cox-2 expression. LPS/IFN-γ/NMMA prestimulation activated nuclear factor (NF)-κB and promoted Cox-2 expression. Cox-2 induction by low-dose GSNO demanded activation of both NF-κB and activator protein-1 (AP-1). NF-κB supershift analysis implied an active p50/p65 heterodimer, and a luciferase reporter construct, containing four copies of the NF-κB site derived from the murine Cox-2 promoter, confirmed NF-κB activation after NO addition. An NF-κB decoy approach abrogated not only Cox-2 expression after low-dose NO or after LPS/IFN-γ/NMMA but also inducible protection. The importance of AP-1 for Cox-2 expression and cell protection by low-level NO was substantiated by using the extracellular signal-regulated kinase inhibitor PD98059, blocking NO-elicited Cox-2 expression, but leaving the cytokine signal unaltered. Transient transfection of a dominant-negative c-Jun mutant further attenuated Cox-2 expression by low-level NO. Whereas cytokine-mediated Cox-2 induction relies on NF-κB activation, a low-level NO–elicited Cox-2 response required activation of both NF-κB and AP-1.

Apoptosis Induced by the Nuclear Death Domain Protein p84N5 Is Inhibited by Association with Rb Protein

Rb protein inhibits both cell cycle progression and apoptosis. Interaction of specific cellular proteins, including E2F1, with Rb C-terminal domains mediates cell cycle regulation. In contrast, the nuclear N5 protein associates with an Rb N-terminal domain with unknown function. The N5 protein contains a region of sequence similarity to the death domain of proteins involved in apoptotic signaling. We demonstrate here that forced N5 expression potently induces apoptosis in several tumor cell lines. Mutation of conserved residues within the death domain homology compromise N5-induced apoptosis, suggesting that it is required for normal function. Endogenous N5 protein is specifically altered in apoptotic cells treated with ionizing radiation. Furthermore, dominant interfering death domain mutants compromise cellular responses to ionizing radiation. Finally, physical association with Rb protein inhibits N5-induced apoptosis. We propose that N5 protein plays a role in the regulation of apoptosis and that Rb directly coordinates cell proliferation and apoptosis by binding specific proteins involved in each process through distinct protein binding domains.

Cortical cell death induced by IL-1 is mediated via actions in the hypothalamus of the rat

The cytokine IL-1 mediates diverse forms of neurodegeneration, but its mechanism of action is unknown. We have demonstrated previously that exogenous and endogenous IL-1 acts specifically in the rat striatum to dramatically enhance ischemic and excitotoxic brain damage and cause extensive cortical injury. Here we tested the hypothesis that this distant effect of IL-1 is mediated through polysynaptic striatal outputs to the cortex via the hypothalamus. We show that IL-1β injected into the rat striatum with the excitotoxin α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionate (S-AMPA) caused increased expression of IL-1β (mRNA and protein) mainly in the cortex where maximum injury occurs. Marked increases in IL-1β mRNA and protein were also observed in the hypothalamus. S-AMPA, injected alone into the striatum, caused only localized damage, but administration of IL-1β into either the striatum or the lateral hypothalamus immediately after striatal S-AMPA resulted in widespread cell loss throughout the ipsilateral cortex. Finally we showed that the cortical cell death produced by striatal coinjection of S-AMPA and IL-1β was significantly reduced by administration of the IL-1 receptor antagonist into the lateral hypothalamus. These data suggest that IL-1β can act in the hypothalamus to modify cell viability in the cortex. We conclude that IL-1-dependent pathways project from the striatum to the cortex via the hypothalamus and lead to cortical injury, and that these may contribute to a number of human neurological conditions including stroke and head trauma.

N-Methyl-d-aspartate antagonists and apoptotic cell death triggered by head trauma in developing rat brain

Morbidity and mortality from head trauma is highest among children. No animal model mimicking traumatic brain injury in children has yet been established, and the mechanisms of neuronal degeneration after traumatic injury to the developing brain are not understood. In infant rats subjected to percussion head trauma, two types of brain damage could be characterized. The first type or primary damage evolved within 4 hr and occurred by an excitotoxic mechanism. The second type or secondary damage evolved within 6–24 hr and occurred by an apoptotic mechanism. Primary damage remained localized to the parietal cortex at the site of impact. Secondary damage affected distant sites such as the cingulate/retrosplenial cortex, subiculum, frontal cortex, thalamus and striatum. Secondary apoptotic damage was more severe than primary excitotoxic damage. Morphometric analysis demonstrated that the N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor antagonists 3-(2-carboxypiperazin-4-yl)-propyl-1-phosphonate and dizocilpine protected against primary excitotoxic damage but increased severity of secondary apoptotic damage. 2-Sulfo-α-phenyl-N-tert-butyl-nitrone, a free radical scavenger, did not affect primary excitotoxic damage but mitigated apoptotic damage. These observations demonstrate that apoptosis and not excitotoxicity determine neuropathologic outcome after traumatic injury to the developing brain. Whereas free radical scavengers may prove useful in therapy of head trauma in children, N-methyl-d-aspartate antagonists should be avoided because of their propensity to increase severity of apoptotic damage.

The role of MHC class I glycoproteins in the regulation of induction of cell death in immunocytes by malignant melanoma cells

A deranged expression of MHC class I glycoproteins, characteristic of a variety of malignancies, contributes to the ability of cancer to avoid destruction by T cell-mediated immunity. An abrogation of the metastatic capacity of B16 melanoma cells has been achieved by transfecting an MHC class I-encoding vector into class I-deficient B16 melanoma clones [Gorelik, E., Kim, M., Duty, L. & Galili, U. (1993) Clin. Exp. Metastasis 11, 439–452]. We report here that the deranged expression of class I molecules by B16 melanoma cells is more than a mere acquisition of the capacity to escape immune recognition. Namely, cells of the B16 melanoma prompted splenic lymphocytes to commit death after coculture. However, a class I-expressing and nonmetastatic CL8-2 clone was found to be less potent as an inducer of apoptosis than class I-deficient and metastatic BL9 and BL12 clones. Both Thy1.2+ and Thy1.2− splenocytes underwent cell death when exposed to the class I-deficient BL9 clone. A proportion of CD4+ and CD8+ cells among splenocytes exposed to the BL9 clone was lower than that observed in a coculture with cells of the CL8-2 clone. Consistently, none of the melanoma clones studied produced a ligand to the FAS receptor (FAS-L). Thus, our results provide evidence that (i) the production of FAS-L may not be the sole mechanism by which malignant cells induce apoptosis in immunocytes, and (ii) absence of MHC class I glycoproteins plays an important role in preventing the elimination of potential effector immunocytes by tumor cells.

Programmed cell death mediated by ced-3 and ced-4 protects Caenorhabditis elegans from Salmonella typhimurium-mediated killing

Programmed cell death (PCD) in mammals has been implicated in several disease states including cancer, autoimmune disease, and neurodegenerative disease. In Caenorhabditis elegans, PCD is a normal component of development. We find that Salmonella typhimurium colonization of the C. elegans intestine leads to an increased level of cell death in the worm gonad. S. typhimurium-mediated germ-line cell death is not observed in C. elegans ced-3 and ced-4 mutants in which developmentally regulated cell death is blocked, and ced-3 and ced-4 mutants are hypersensitive to S. typhimurium-mediated killing. These results suggest that PCD may be involved in the C. elegans defense response to pathogen attack.

An orchestrated gene expression component of neuronal programmed cell death revealed by cDNA array analysis

Programmed cell death (PCD) during neuronal development and disease has been shown to require de novo RNA synthesis. However, the time course and regulation of target genes is poorly understood. By using a brain-biased array of over 7,500 cDNAs, we profiled this gene expression component of PCD in cerebellar granule neurons challenged separately by potassium withdrawal, combined potassium and serum withdrawal, and kainic acid administration. We found that hundreds of genes were significantly regulated in discreet waves including known genes whose protein products are involved in PCD. A restricted set of genes was regulated by all models, providing evidence that signals inducing PCD can regulate large assemblages of genes (of which a restricted subset may be shared in multiple pathways).

Hypersensitive Cell Death and Papilla Formation in Barley Attacked by the Powdery Mildew Fungus Are Associated with Hydrogen Peroxide but Not with Salicylic Acid Accumulation1

We analyzed the pathogenesis-related generation of H2O2 using the microscopic detection of 3,3-diaminobenzidine polymerization in near-isogenic barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) lines carrying different powdery mildew (Blumeria graminis f.sp. hordei) resistance genes, and in a line expressing chemically activated resistance after treatment with 2,6-dichloroisonicotinic acid (DCINA). Hypersensitive cell death in Mla12 and Mlg genotypes or after chemical activation by DCINA was associated with H2O2 accumulation throughout attacked cells. Formation of cell wall appositions (papillae) mediated in Mlg and mlo5 genotypes and in DCINA-activated plants was paralleled by H2O2 accumulation in effective papillae and in cytosolic vesicles of up to 2 μm in diameter near the papillae. H2O2 was not detected in ineffective papillae of cells that had been successfully penetrated by the fungus. These findings support the hypothesis that H2O2 may play a substantial role in plant defense against the powdery mildew fungus. We did not detect any accumulation of salicylic acid in primary leaves after inoculation of the different barley genotypes, indicating that these defense responses neither relied on nor provoked salicylic acid accumulation in barley.

Evolution by the birth-and-death process in multigene families of the vertebrate immune system

Concerted evolution is often invoked to explain the diversity and evolution of the multigene families of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes and immunoglobulin (Ig) genes. However, this hypothesis has been controversial because the member genes of these families from the same species are not necessarily more closely related to one another than to the genes from different species. To resolve this controversy, we conducted phylogenetic analyses of several multigene families of the MHC and Ig systems. The results show that the evolutionary pattern of these families is quite different from that of concerted evolution but is in agreement with the birth-and-death model of evolution in which new genes are created by repeated gene duplication and some duplicate genes are maintained in the genome for a long time but others are deleted or become nonfunctional by deleterious mutations. We found little evidence that interlocus gene conversion plays an important role in the evolution of MHC and Ig multigene families.

Hydrogen peroxide-mediated neuronal cell death induced by an endogenous neurotoxin, 3-hydroxykynurenine.

3-Hydroxykynurenine (3-HK) is a tryptophan metabolite whose level in the brain is markedly elevated under several pathological conditions, including Huntington disease and human immunodeficiency virus infection. Here we demonstrate that micromolar concentrations (1-100 microM) of 3-HK cause cell death in primary neuronal cultures prepared from rat striatum. The neurotoxicity of 3-HK was blocked by catalase and desferrioxamine but not by superoxide dismutase, indicating that the generation of hydrogen peroxide and hydroxyl radical is involved in the toxicity. Measurement of peroxide levels revealed that 3-HK caused intracellular accumulation of peroxide, which was largely attenuated by application of catalase. The peroxide accumulation and cell death caused by 1-10 microM 3-HK were also blocked by pretreatment with allopurinol or oxypurinol, suggesting that endogenous xanthine oxidase activity is involved in exacerbation of 3-HK neurotoxicity. Furthermore, NADPH diaphorase-containing neurons were spared from toxicity of these concentrations of 3-HK, a finding reminiscent of the pathological characteristics of several neurodegenerative disorders such as Huntington disease. These results suggest that 3-HK at pathologically relevant concentrations renders neuronal cells subject to oxidative stress leading to cell death, and therefore that this endogenous compound should be regarded as an important factor in pathogenesis of neurodegenerative disorders.

RIP and FADD: two "death domain"-containing proteins can induce apoptosis by convergent, but dissociable, pathways.

With use of the yeast two-hybrid system, the proteins RIP and FADD/MORT1 have been shown to interact with the "death domain" of the Fas receptor. Both of these proteins induce apoptosis in mammalian cells. Using receptor fusion constructs, we provide evidence that the self-association of the death domain of RIP by itself is sufficient to elicit apoptosis. However, both the death domain and the adjacent alpha-helical region of RIP are required for the optimal cell killing induced by the overexpression of this gene. By contrast, FADD's ability to induce cell death does not depend on crosslinking. Furthermore, RIP and FADD appear to activate different apoptotic pathways since RIP is able to induce cell death in a cell line that is resistant to the apoptotic effects of Fas, tumor necrosis factor, and FADD. Consistent with this, a dominant negative mutant of FADD, lacking its N-terminal domain, blocks apoptosis induced by RIP but not by FADD. Since both pathways are blocked by CrmA, the interleukin 1 beta converting enzyme family protease inhibitor, these results suggest that FADD and RIP can act along separable pathways that nonetheless converge on a member of the interleukin 1 beta converting enzyme family of cysteine proteases.

Fas (CD95) expression and death-mediating function are induced by CD4 cross-linking on CD4+ T cells.

The CD4 receptor contributes to T-cell activation by coligating major histocompatibility complex class II on antigen presenting cells with the T-cell receptor (TCR)/CD3 complex, and triggering a cascade of signaling events including tyrosine phosphorylation of intracellular proteins. Paradoxically, CD3 cross-linking prior to TCR stimulation results in apoptotic cell death, as does injection of anti-CD4 antibodies in vivo of CD4 ligation by HIV glycoprotein (gp) 120. In this report we investigate the mechanism by which CD4 cross-linking induces cell death. We have found that CD4 cross-linking results in a small but rapid increase in levels of cell surface Fas, a member of the tumor necrosis factor receptor family implicated in apoptotic death and maintenance of immune homeostasis. Importantly, CD4 cross-linking triggered the ability of Fas to function as a death molecule. Subsequent to CD4 cross-linking, CD4+ splenocytes cultured overnight became sensitive to Fas-mediated death. Death was Fas-dependent, as demonstrated by cell survival in the absence of plate-bound anti-Fas antibody, and by the lack of CD4-induced death in cells from Fas-defective lymphoproliferative (lpr) mice. We demonstrate here that CD4 regulates the ability of Fas to induce cell death in Cd4+ T cells.

Cell death in the Schwann cell lineage and its regulation by neuregulin.

The development of Schwann cells, the myelin-forming glial cells of the vertebrate peripheral nervous system, involves a neonatal phase of proliferation in which cells migrate along and segregate newly formed axons. Withdrawal from the cell cycle, around postnatal days 2-4 in rodents, initiates terminal differentiation to the myelinating state. During this time, Schwann cell number is subject to stringent regulation such that within the first postnatal week, axons and myelinating Schwann cells attain the one-to-one relationship characteristic of the mature nerve. The mechanisms that underly this developmental control remain largely undefined. In this report, we examine the role of apoptosis in the determination of postnatal Schwann cell number. We find that Schwann cells isolated from postnatal day 3 rat sciatic nerve undergo apoptosis in vitro upon serum withdrawal and that Schwann cell death can be prevented by beta forms of neuregulin (NRG-beta) but not by fibroblast growth factor 2 or platelet-derived growth factors AA and BB. This NRG-beta-mediated Schwann cell survival is apparently transduced through an ErbB2/ErbB3 receptor heterodimer. We also provide evidence that postnatal Schwann cells undergo developmentally regulated apoptosis in vivo. Together with other recent findings, these results suggest that Schwann cell apoptosis may play an important role in peripheral nerve development and that Schwann cell survival may be regulated by access to axonally derived NRG.