Published in Cell Death and Disease in Jun 08, 2015
Cardiac glycosides (CGs), prescribed to treat cardiovascular alterations, display potent anti-cancer activities. Despite their well-established target, the sodium/potassium (Na + /K +)-ATPase, downstream mechanisms remain poorly elucidated. UNBS1450 is a hemi-synthetic cardenolide derived from 2″-oxovorusharin extracted from the plant Calotropis ...
Published in Cell Death and Disease in Jan 11, 2013
Smac mimetics (SMs) comprise a class of small molecules that target members of the inhibitor of apoptosis family of pro-survival proteins, whose expression in cancer cells hinders the action of conventional chemotherapeutics. Herein, we describe the activity of SM83, a newly synthesised dimeric SM, in two cancer ascites models: athymic nude mice in...
Published in Cell Death and Disease in Jan 11, 2013
Apoptosis resistance is a hurdle for cancer treatment. HECTD3, a new E3 ubiquitin ligase, interacts with caspase-8 death effector domains and ubiquitinates caspase-8 with K63-linked polyubiquitin chains that do not target caspase-8 for degradation but decrease the caspase-8 activation. HECTD3 depletion can sensitize cancer cells to extrinsic apopto...
Published in Cell Death and Disease in Jan 11, 2013
p38 Mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase is involved in the apoptosis of nucleated cells. Although platelets are anucleated cells, apoptotic proteins have been shown to regulate platelet lifespan. However, the involvement of p38 MAP kinase in platelet apoptosis is not yet clearly defined. Therefore, we investigated the role of p38 MAP kinase in a...
Published in Cell Death and Disease in Jan 11, 2013
The androgen receptor (AR) has a critical role in promoting androgen-dependent and -independent apoptosis in testicular cells. However, the molecular mechanisms that underlie the ligand-independent apoptosis, including the activity of AR in testicular stem cells, are not completely understood. In the present study, we generated induced pluripotent ...
Published in Cell Death and Disease in Jan 11, 2013
The p63 gene regulates thymic epithelial cell (TEC) proliferation, whereas FoxN1 regulates their differentiation. However, their collaborative role in the regulation of TEC homeostasis during thymic aging is largely unknown. In murine models, the proportion of TAp63+, but not ΔNp63+, TECs was increased with age, which was associated with an age-re...
Published in Cell Death and Disease in Jan 11, 2013
Smac mimetic promotes apoptosis by neutralizing inhibitor of apoptosis (IAP) proteins and is considered as a promising cancer therapeutic. Although an autocrine/paracrine tumor necrosis factor-α (TNFα) loop has been implicated in Smac mimetic-induced cell death, little is yet known about additional factors that determine sensitivity to Smac mimet...
Published in Cell Death and Disease in Jan 11, 2013
Inhibition of the proteasome is considered as a promising strategy to sensitize cancer cells to apoptosis. Recently, we demonstrated that the proteasome inhibitor Bortezomib primes neuroblastoma cells to TRAIL-induced apoptosis. In the present study, we investigated whether Bortezomib increases chemosensitivity of neuroblastoma cells. Unexpectedly,...
Published in Cell Death and Disease in Jan 11, 2013
Several neurodegenerative diseases and brain injury involve reactive oxygen species and implicate oxidative stress in disease mechanisms. Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) formation due to mitochondrial superoxide leakage perpetuates oxidative stress in neuronal injury. Catalase, an H2O2-degrading enzyme, thus remains an important antioxidant therapy target...
Published in Cell Death and Disease in Jan 11, 2013
In almost all vertebrates, the downstream of the sox9 signaling axis is well conserved for testis differentiation. The upstream genes of this pathway vary from species to species during evolution. Yet, little is known about how these signaling cascades are regulated and what cellular processes are dominant in ovary–testis transformation in juveni...