title: Role of Ced-3/ICE-family proteases in staurosporine-induced programmed cell death.
abstract: In the accompanying paper by Weil et al. (1996) we show that staurosporine (STS), in the presence of cycloheximide (CHX) to inhibit protein synthesis, induces apoptotic cell death in a large variety of nucleated mammalian cell types, suggesting that all nucleated mammalian cells constitutively express all of the proteins required to undergo programmed cell death (PCD). The reliability of that conclusion depends on the evidence that STS-induced, and (STS + CHS)-induced, cell deaths are bona fide examples of PCD. There is rapidly accumulating evidence that some members of the Ced-3/Interleukin-1 beta converting enzyme (ICE) family of cysteine proteases are part of the basic machinery of PCD. Here we show that Z-Val-Ala-Asp-fluoromethylketone (zVAD-fmk), a cell-permeable, irreversible, tripeptide inhibitor of some of these proteases, suppresses STS-induced and (STS + CHX)-induced cell death in a wide variety of mammalian cell types, including anucleate cytoplasts, providing strong evidence that these are all bona fide examples of PCD. We show that the Ced-3/ICE family member CPP32 becomes activated in STS-induced PCD, and that Bcl-2 inhibits this activation. Most important, we show that, in some cells at least, one or more CPP32-family members, but not ICE itself, is required for STS-induced PCD. Finally, we show that zVAD-fmk suppresses PCD in the interdigital webs in developing mouse paws and blocks the removal of web tissue during digit development, suggesting that this inhibition will be a useful tool for investigating the roles of PCD in various developmental processes.
authors.affiliation: MRC Laboratory for Molecular Cell Biology, University College London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: M D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Jacobsen
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Weil
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Raff
mesh_terms: D000470:Alkaloids / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000590:Amino Acid Chloromethyl Ketones / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology*; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D020170:Caspase 1; D053148:Caspase 3; D020169:Caspases; D002460:Cell Line; D003513:Cycloheximide / Q000494:pharmacology; D003546:Cysteine Endopeptidases / Q000502:physiology*; D005121:Extremities / Q000196:embryology; D015801:Helminth Proteins / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009842:Oligopeptides / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology; D011480:Protease Inhibitors / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology; D011493:Protein Kinase C / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors; D011500:Protein Synthesis Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology; D019311:Staurosporine
chemical_list: D000470:Alkaloids; D000590:Amino Acid Chloromethyl Ketones; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D015801:Helminth Proteins; D009842:Oligopeptides; D011480:Protease Inhibitors; D011500:Protein Synthesis Inhibitors; C096713:benzyloxycarbonylvalyl-alanyl-aspartyl fluoromethyl ketone; D003513:Cycloheximide; D011493:Protein Kinase C; C505407:CASP3 protein, human; C505409:Casp3 protein, mouse; D053148:Caspase 3; D020169:Caspases; D003546:Cysteine Endopeptidases; C089223:ced-3 protein, C elegans; D020170:Caspase 1; D019311:Staurosporine