title: Early induction of c-Myc is associated with neuronal cell death.
abstract: Neuronal cell cycle activation has been implicated in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, while the initiating mechanism of cell cycle activation remains to be determined. Interestingly, our previous studies have shown that cell cycle activation by c-Myc (Myc) leads to neuronal cell death which suggests Myc might be a key regulator of cell cycle re-entry mediated neuronal cell death. However, the pattern of Myc expression in the process of neuronal cell death has not been addressed. To this end, we examined Myc induction by the neurotoxic agents camptothecin and amyloid-β peptide in a differentiated SH-SY5Y neuronal cell culture model. Myc expression was found to be significantly increased following either treatment and importantly, the induction of Myc preceded neuronal cell death suggesting it is an early event of neuronal cell death. Since ectopic expression of Myc in neurons causes the cell cycle activation and neurodegeneration in vivo, the current data suggest that induction of Myc by neurotoxic agents or other disease factors might be a key mediator in cell cycle activation and consequent cell death that is a feature of neurodegenerative diseases.
authors: Department of Pathology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA.
authors: Hyun-Pil
authors: HP
authors: Lee
authors: Wataru
authors: W
authors: Kudo
authors: Xiongwei
authors: X
authors: Zhu
authors: Mark A
authors: MA
authors: Smith
authors: Hyoung-gon
authors: HG
authors: Lee
mesh_terms: D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides / Q000502:physiology / Q000633:toxicity; D002166:Camptothecin / Q000633:toxicity; D002453:Cell Cycle / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D016923:Cell Death / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D006801:Humans; D009410:Nerve Degeneration / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*; D016271:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-myc / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D015533:Transcriptional Activation / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides; D016271:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-myc; D002166:Camptothecin