title: Apoptosis by pan-caspase inhibitors in lipopolysaccharide-activated macrophages.
abstract: Although apoptosis has been observed in macrophages during the course of infections, the mechanism of apoptosis in activated macrophages is not fully understood. This study shows that pan-caspase inhibitor benzyloxycarbonyl-Val-Ala-Asp-fluoromethylketone (ZVAD) or t-butyloxycarbonyl-Asp-fluoromethylketone (Boc-D) caused the death of lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-activated macrophages and RAW 264.7 cells with apoptotic features. The apoptosis was also observed in lipoprotein-treated bacteria but not in CpG oligonucleotide- or flagellin-treated macrophages, indicating a difference of cellular responses downstream of different Toll-like receptors. Consistent with the induction of cell death by pan-caspase inhibitors, no activation of known caspases was detected in LPS-ZVAD-treated cells, suggesting an involvement of unknown proapoptotic caspases in the cell death. ZVAD inhibited the activation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) and p38 but not of nuclear factor (NF)-kappa B induced by LPS, suggesting that the ZVAD-sensitive molecule lies upstream of the ERK and p38 pathways but downstream of the divergent site of NF-kappa B and mitogen-activated protein kinases. Our results demonstrate that apoptosis of macrophages induced by LPS+ZVAD is independent from the known proapoptotic caspases and suggest that activity of an unidentified ZVAD-sensitive molecule(s) is involved in the survival of LPS-activated macrophages.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California 92037, USA.
authors.forename: S O
authors.initials: SO
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ono
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Han
mesh_terms: D000590:Amino Acid Chloromethyl Ketones / Q000494:pharmacology; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D061945:Caspase Inhibitors; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism; D002469:Cell Separation; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D015853:Cysteine Proteinase Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006801:Humans; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008262:Macrophage Activation; D008264:Macrophages / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D020928:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases / Q000378:metabolism; D016328:NF-kappa B / Q000378:metabolism; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D000590:Amino Acid Chloromethyl Ketones; D061945:Caspase Inhibitors; D015853:Cysteine Proteinase Inhibitors; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides; D016328:NF-kappa B; C096713:benzyloxycarbonylvalyl-alanyl-aspartyl fluoromethyl ketone; C417985:butyloxycarbonyl-aspartyl-fluoromethyl ketone; D020928:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases