title: Analysis of apoptosome dysregulation in pancreatic cancer and of its role in chemoresistance.
abstract: The apoptosome is a multiprotein complex mediating the mitochondrial pathway of cell death. Its importance during development has been clearly demonstrated by knocking out key genes in mouse. APAF1 is the core protein of the apoptosome and its dosage is also critical in various cancer types, i.e., melanoma, germ line tumor, gastrointestinal cancer and B-type chronic lymphocytic leukemia. This is generally due to inactivation of the APAF1 locus by epigenetic phenomena or by activity of promoter regulators. We investigated the putative roles of the apoptosome in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). We found that both APAF1 mRNA and protein are dysregulated in human PDAC samples. Similarly, several PDAC cell lines exhibited variable levels of both APAF1 protein and mRNA. The response to cell death induction and its biochemical features were assessed by treatment of each line with commonly used chemotherapeutic agents. We found that the apoptosome pathway was not functional in most cell lines upon cytochrome c release from mitochondria. In addition, we restored APAF1 and Caspase-9 dosage in Panc-1 cells, where the apoptosome is downregulated, by overexpressing the murine cDNA of the two molecules, and we improved the death response to chemotherapeutic agents.
authors.affiliation: Dulbecco Telethon Institute, Department of Biology, University of Tor Vergata, Via della Ricerca Scientifica, Rome 00133, Italy.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Corvaro
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fuoco
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wagner
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cecconi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D053478:Apoptosomes / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D053477:Apoptotic Protease-Activating Factor 1 / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D021441:Carcinoma, Pancreatic Ductal / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000378:metabolism*; D053453:Caspase 9 / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D016923:Cell Death; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D019008:Drug Resistance, Neoplasm / Q000502:physiology; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D051379:Mice; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: C506592:APAF1 protein, human; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D053478:Apoptosomes; D053477:Apoptotic Protease-Activating Factor 1; D053453:Caspase 9