title: Induction of apoptosis by SB202190 through inhibition of p38beta mitogen-activated protein kinase.
abstract: p38, a subfamily of the mitogen-activated protein kinase, regulates gene expression in response to various extracellular stimuli. The pyridinyl imidazoles like SB202190 are specific inhibitors of p38alpha and p38beta and have been widely used in investigation of the biological functions of p38. Here we show that SB202190 by itself was sufficient to induce cell death, with typical apoptotic features such as nucleus condensation and intranucleosomal DNA fragmentation. SB202190 stimulated the activity of CPP32-like caspases, and its apoptotic effect was completely blocked by the protease inhibitor benzyloxycarbonyl-Val-Ala-Asp-fluoromethyl ketone and expression of bcl-2. In addition, SB202190 was able to potentiate apoptosis induced by Fas(APO-1) ligation or UV irradiation. Expression of p38beta attenuated the apoptotic effect of SB202190 and the cell death induced by Fas ligation and UV irradiation. In contrast, expression of p38alpha induced cell death mildly. These results indicate that SB202190 induces apoptosis through activation of CPP32-like caspases and suggest that distinct members of the p38 subfamily of mitogen-activated protein kinase have different functions in apoptosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama 35294, USA.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nemoto
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xiang
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lin
mesh_terms: D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects; D017871:Calcium-Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinases / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000378:metabolism*; D053148:Caspase 3; D020169:Caspases; D003374:Coumarins / Q000494:pharmacology; D003546:Cysteine Endopeptidases / Q000378:metabolism; D015853:Cysteine Proteinase Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology; D053938:DNA Fragmentation; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004792:Enzyme Precursors / Q000378:metabolism; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D007093:Imidazoles / Q000494:pharmacology*; D047908:Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D019169:Jurkat Cells; D020928:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases; D009842:Oligopeptides / Q000494:pharmacology; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000378:metabolism; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 / Q000378:metabolism; D011725:Pyridines / Q000494:pharmacology*; D048051:p38 Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases; D000099190:MAP-Kinase-Activated Kinase 2
chemical_list: D017871:Calcium-Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinases; D053148:Caspase 3; D020169:Caspases; D003374:Coumarins; D003546:Cysteine Endopeptidases; D015853:Cysteine Proteinase Inhibitors; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors; D004792:Enzyme Precursors; D007093:Imidazoles; D047908:Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D020928:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases; D009842:Oligopeptides; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2; D011725:Pyridines; D048051:p38 Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases; D000099190:MAP-Kinase-Activated Kinase 2; C102580:acetyl-aspartyl-glutamyl-valyl-aspartyl-amino-4-methylcoumarin; C103712:benzyloxycarbonyl-valyl-alanyl-aspartyl-fluoromethane; C505407:CASP3 protein, human; C090942:4-(4-fluorophenyl)-2-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-5-(4-pyridyl)imidazole