Surviving the kiss of death.
Executioner caspases induce the biochemical and cellular changes characteristic of apoptosis. Activation of caspases is therefore regarded as "the kiss of death" resulting in the cell's demise. Recent reports indicate however that in some situations, caspase activation may induce other responses than apoptosis. These findings raise the question of how cells manage to counteract the killing activities of executioner caspases. Experiments performed in our laboratory have unraveled a mechanism that allows cells to survive in the presence of activated executioner caspases. This mechanism is based on the partial cleavage of RasGAP into an N-terminal fragment that activates the Ras-PI3K-Akt survival pathway. This protective pathway may be activated to allow cells to use executioner caspases for other purposes than inducing apoptosis.
Department of Cellular Biology, Biology and Medicine Faculty, Lausanne University, Switzerland.
Jiang-Yan
JY
Yang
David
D
Michod
Joël
J
Walicki
Christian
C
Widmann
D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000502:physiology*; D020169:Caspases / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000502:physiology; D004789:Enzyme Activation; D006801:Humans; D019869:Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases / Q000378:metabolism; D020703:ras GTPase-Activating Proteins / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D018631:ras Proteins / Q000378:metabolism
D020703:ras GTPase-Activating Proteins; D019869:Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases; D020169:Caspases; D018631:ras Proteins