title: Pleiotropic effects of cadmium in mesangial cells.
abstract: The mesangial cell of the renal glomerulus is exposed to circulating toxic substances and is a target involved in the glomerular component of chronic occupational and environmental exposure to cadmium. We review evidence for the involvement of cadmium in mesangial cell pathology, including effects on cell signaling, oncogene expression, and cell death. Previously we have shown that cadmium can inhibit apoptosis initiated through both the extrinsic (death ligand receptor) and intrinsic (mitochondrial) pathways, whereas exposure of mesangial cells to 10 microM CdCl(2) for 6 h initiates caspase-independent cell death through both apoptotic and apoptotic-like (annexin V positive, propidium iodide staining) mechanisms. Apoptotic death is dependent upon activation of Ca(2+)/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMK-II). In the present study we show that low level exposure of mesangial cells to Cd(2+) (0.5 microM) initiates cell survival signals including PI3 kinase/Akt signaling, also dependent on CaMK-II, that are eventually overcome resulting in caspase-dependent cell death. These studies underscore the roles of cell signaling in various modes of cell death, and in particular the central role of CaMK-II in cadmium toxicology of the mesangial cell.
authors.affiliation: University of Toronto, Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Weiqun
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Douglas M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Templeton
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects; D019256:Cadmium Chloride / Q000633:toxicity*; D054732:Calcium-Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinase Type 2 / Q000378:metabolism; D020169:Caspases / Q000378:metabolism; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000633:toxicity*; D066246:ErbB Receptors / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D048049:Extracellular Signal-Regulated MAP Kinases / Q000378:metabolism; D050527:Mesangial Cells / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D019869:Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases / Q000378:metabolism; D010766:Phosphorylation; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000187:drug effects; D013997:Time Factors; D019061:src-Family Kinases / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D019869:Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases; C483803:Egfr protein, rat; D066246:ErbB Receptors; D019061:src-Family Kinases; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt; D054732:Calcium-Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinase Type 2; D048049:Extracellular Signal-Regulated MAP Kinases; D020169:Caspases; D019256:Cadmium Chloride