In lymphatic cells par-4 sensitizes to apoptosis by down-regulating Bcl-2 and promoting disruption of mitochondrial membrane potential and caspase activation

Simone Boehrer, Kai U. Chow, Florian Beske, Natasa Kukoc-Zivojnov, Elena Puccetti, Martin Ruthardt, Christine Baum, Vivek M. Rangnekar, Dieter Hoelzer, Paris S. Mitrou, Eckhart Weidmann

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

67 Scopus citations

Abstract

Inhibition of apoptosis is a hallmark of malignancies of the hematopoetic system. Previous studies in nonhematopoetic cells demonstrated that the prostate-apoptosis-response-gene-4 (Par-4) is up-regulated in cells undergoing programmed cell death and that Par-4 exerts its proapoptotic effect by down-regulating Bcl-2. After showing the aberrant expressional pattern of Par-4 in neoplastic lymphocytes as well as demonstrating inverse expressional patterns of Par-4 and Bcl-2 in malignant cells of patients suffering from acute lymphocytic leukemia, we assessed the functional consequences of Par-4 overexpression during apoptosis in Jurkat T lymphocytes. We show that in lymphatic cells Par-4 overexpression decreases the level of Bcl-2, whereas Bax, the proapoptotic counterpart of Bcl-2, retains unaltered levels. Moreover, Par-4 overexpression is accompanied by cleavage of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP). Despite these effects, overexpression of Par-4 alone is not sufficient to induce apoptosis but markedly increases the rate of apoptosis on treatment with different chemotherapeutic agents. On chemotherapeutic treatment Par-4 overexpression enhances disruption of mitochondrial membrane potential, PARP-cleaving activity, as well as activation of caspase-3. The hypothesis of caspase-dependency of Par-4-promoted apoptosis is additionally supported by demonstrating complete abrogation of programmed cell death after pretreatment with a broad spectrum caspase-inhibitor. On inhibition of caspase-3 overexpression of Par-4 enables lymphatic cells to alternatively activate caspases-9, -6, and -7 by diminishing the influence of the inhibitors of apoptosis proteins (IAPs) cIAP1 and XIAP. Our study is the first to identify Par-4 as a proapoptotic protein in lymphatic cells, outlining a model of action evaluating the role of Bcl-2/Bax, as well as demonstrating the impact of Par-4 expression on PARP cleavage, disruption of mitochondrial membrane potential, caspase activation, and interactions with inhibitors of apoptosis proteins.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1768-1775
Number of pages8
JournalCancer Research
Volume62
Issue number6
StatePublished - Mar 15 2002

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Oncology
  • Cancer Research

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'In lymphatic cells par-4 sensitizes to apoptosis by down-regulating Bcl-2 and promoting disruption of mitochondrial membrane potential and caspase activation'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this