title: Nitric oxide protects cultured rheumatoid synovial cells from Fas-induced apoptosis by inhibiting caspase-3.
abstract: Nitric oxide (NO) is elevated in the synovial fluids and sera of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and is thought to be an important proinflammatory mediator in the rheumatoid synovium. To test the hypothesis that NO might modulate the apoptosis-inducing signal pathway, we investigated the effects of NO on rheumatoid synovial-cell apoptosis induced by Fas ligation with anti-Fas antibody. Pretreatment of synovial cells with the NO donor S-nitro-N-acetylpenicillamine (SNAP) prevented the Fas-mediated induction of apoptosis. The activation of caspase-3 was required to mediate Fas-induced synovial cell apoptosis. The NO donor SNAP inhibited Fas-induced caspase-3 activation in rheumatoid synovial cells. However, NO did not interrupt Fas-induced caspase-8 cleavage or subsequent cytochrome c release into the cytosol in rheumatoid synovial cells. These data indicate that NO prevents apoptosis in rheumatoid synovial cells by directly inhibiting caspase-3 activation. Thus, we propose that NO interferes with cell death signal transduction and may contribute to rheumatoid synovial cell proliferation by inhibiting induction of apoptosis.
authors.affiliation: The First Department of Internal Medicine, Nagasaki University School of Medicine, Nagasaki, Japan. migita@net.nagasaki-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Migita
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yamasaki
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kita
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ida
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shibatomi
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kawakami
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Aoyagi
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Eguchi
mesh_terms: D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects*; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000473:pathology*; D053148:Caspase 3; D053181:Caspase 8; D053453:Caspase 9; D061945:Caspase Inhibitors; D020169:Caspases / Q000378:metabolism; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques; D004789:Enzyme Activation / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D009569:Nitric Oxide / Q000494:pharmacology*; D020030:Nitric Oxide Donors / Q000494:pharmacology; D010396:Penicillamine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000494:pharmacology; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000187:drug effects; D013583:Synovial Membrane / Q000473:pathology*; D019014:fas Receptor / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D061945:Caspase Inhibitors; D020030:Nitric Oxide Donors; C110881:S-nitro-N-acetylpenicillamine; D019014:fas Receptor; D009569:Nitric Oxide; C505407:CASP3 protein, human; C505530:CASP8 protein, human; C506433:CASP9 protein, human; D053148:Caspase 3; D053181:Caspase 8; D053453:Caspase 9; D020169:Caspases; D010396:Penicillamine