title: Induction of a common pathway of apoptosis by staurosporine.
abstract: The present observations show that staurosporine can rapidly trigger both the morphological changes and intranucleosomal DNA fragmentation typical of apoptosis. This occurred in a number of cell lines from various origins regardless of the state of differentiation and cell cycle phase, suggesting the presence of a common inducible suicide pathway. The broad apoptotic activity of staurosporine appears to be unique among other protein kinase or phosphatase inhibitors we tested. Results obtained in a cell-free assay suggest that cytoplasmic proteins directly modulated by staurosporine may be involved in a ubiquitous signal for the induction of DNA fragmentation and apoptosis.
authors.affiliation: Centre de Recherche Louis-Charles Simard, Institut du Cancer de Montréal, Québec, Canada.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bertrand
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Solary
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: O'Connor
authors.forename: K W
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Kohn
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Pommier
mesh_terms: D000470:Alkaloids / Q000494:pharmacology*; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D002453:Cell Cycle / Q000187:drug effects; D002460:Cell Line; D002474:Cell-Free System; D004247:DNA / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D010744:Phosphoric Monoester Hydrolases / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors; D047428:Protein Kinase Inhibitors; D019311:Staurosporine
chemical_list: D000470:Alkaloids; D047428:Protein Kinase Inhibitors; D004247:DNA; D010744:Phosphoric Monoester Hydrolases; D019311:Staurosporine