IL-4 induces apoptosis of endothelial cells through the caspase-3-dependent pathway

Yong Woo Lee, Hartmut Kühn, Bernhard Hennig, Michal Toborek

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

42 Scopus citations

Abstract

The present study was designed to investigate the hypothesis that interleukin-4 (IL-4) can induce apoptosis of human endothelial cells and to study regulatory pathways of this process. Indeed, DNA ladder assay and flow cytometry study showed that IL-4 can induce apoptosis of endothelial cells in a time- and dose-dependent manner. In addition, IL-4 markedly increased activity of caspase-3, and inhibition of this enzyme suppressed IL-4-induced apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner. These results provide the first evidence that IL-4 can induce apoptosis of human endothelial cells. In addition, the data indicate that the caspase-3-dependent pathway is critically involved in this process.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)122-126
Number of pages5
JournalFEBS Letters
Volume485
Issue number2-3
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 24 2000

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was supported in part by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and by research grants from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, American Heart Association, and National Institutes of Health.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2000 Federation of European Biochemical Societies.

Keywords

  • Apoptosis
  • Atherosclerosis
  • Caspase-3
  • Human endothelial cell
  • Interleukin-4

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Biophysics
  • Structural Biology
  • Biochemistry
  • Molecular Biology
  • Genetics
  • Cell Biology

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