Академический Документы
Профессиональный Документы
Культура Документы
Mechanisms
Fatima Cairrao, ITQB, Oeiras, Portugal
Pedro M Domingos, ITQB, Oeiras, Portugal
Advanced article
Article Contents
. Introduction
. Features of Apoptosis
. Executioners of Apoptosis: Caspases
. Conclusions
Introduction
Apoptosis, derived from the Greek word for the natural
process of leaves falling from trees, is a distinct form of
programmed cell death (Kerr et al., 1972; Kerr, 2002).
Although such programmed deaths were described many
decades ago, the signicance of apoptosis was largely
overlooked, in particular, its relevance to disease. During
the past 25 years, the improved understanding of apoptotic
signalling pathways, with the cloning and characterization
of pro- or antiapoptotic genes, has attracted great interest
to this process and raised the possibility that therapeutic
strategies altering apoptotic pathways may be useful for the
treatment of cancer, infectious diseases, degenerative syndromes and other pathological conditions.
Features of Apoptosis
Cell death may occur via at least two broadly dened
mechanisms: necrosis or apoptosis. Necrosis is a cell death
process generally occurring in response to trauma generated
by external factors or overwhelming cellular injury. Necrosis
is characterized by swelling and rupture of the plasma cell
membrane (cell lyse), with the release of the cellular contents
into the immediate extracellular space, which may cause
inammation or harm other neighbouring cells.
In contrast to necrosis (a dirty form of cell death),
apoptosis is a genetically encoded and evolutionarily conserved form of cell death, in which any harm done to the
organism by this process is minimized (a clean form of cell
death). Apoptosis is characterized by several morphological and biochemical aspects: the condensation of the
nucleus and cytoplasm, the activation of caspases and
nucleases (which degrade cellular proteins and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), respectively), membrane blebbing
and the fragmentation of cells into multiple small
membrane-bound apoptotic bodies, which are rapidly
phagocytosed by neighbouring cells. As a result, apoptotic
cells are removed from tissues without leaking their cytoplasmic contents into the intercellular space, minimizing
tissue inammation and avoiding damage to neighbouring
cells. Apoptosis may occur during normal physiological
conditions, for example, during embryonic development,
where unnecessary cells may die by apoptosis and deregulation of apoptosis may cause pathological conditions such
as cancer or neurodegenerative diseases (Jacobson et al.,
1997; Vaux and Korsmeyer, 1999). See also: Apoptosis:
Morphological Criteria and Other Assays; Apoptosis:
Regulatory Genes and Disease
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF LIFE SCIENCES & 2010, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. www.els.net
Intrinsic pathway
Most of the current knowledge about the molecular
mechanisms regulating the intrinsic pathway derives from
studies using the nematode C. elegans or mammalian systems (Figure 1). In the classic pathway, the activation of
caspases results from the formation of a multiprotein
complex, termed the apoptosome, consisting of CED-4/
Apaf-1, procaspase-9 and cytochrome c (in mammals
only), which is required for the initial activation of procaspase-9, with the activation of other caspases occurring
subsequent to caspase-9 activation (Shi, 2006). For this
reason, caspase-9 homologues are also known as initiator
caspases, whereas caspases that are directly or indirectly
activated downstream of caspase-9 to participate in the
degradation of the cellular components, such as caspase-3,
are known as eector caspases. See also: The Apoptosome:
The Executioner of Mitochondria-mediated Apoptosis
Members of the B-cell lymphoma protein 2 (Bcl-2)
family of proteins are important regulators of caspase-9
activation, since they can facilitate or prevent the release of
Debcl/Buffy
EGL-1
Bcl-2
Bax
CED-9
CED-4
CED-3
Apaf-1
Ark/Dark
Reaper
Hid
Grim
Diap1
Dronc
Smac/Diablo
HtrA2/Omi
Arts
IAPs
Drice
Dcp-1
Caspase9
Effector
caspases
Figure 1 The intrinsic pathway in C. elegans, D. melanogaster and mammalians. The functional homologues are represented in boxes with the same colour.
The activation of effector caspases occurs downstream of the activation of initiator caspases (CED-3, Dronc and caspase-9), which occurs on the formation of
the apoptosome, a protein complex contaning CED-4, Ark/Dark and Apaf-1, and cytochrome c. In mammalians, the release of cytochrome c from
mitochondria is a critical step for caspase activation, which is regulated by members for the Bcl-2 family of proteins. In Drosophila, the importance of
cytochrome c and Bcl-2 family members (Debcl/Buffy) for apoptosome formation and caspase activation is still not clear. In C. elegans, CED-4 directly
activates CED-3 with no apparent requirement of cytochrome c for this process to occur. The negative regulation of CED-4 by CED-9 is blocked by EGL-1, a
BH3-only member of the Bcl-2 family of proteins. IAPs (in mammalians) or Diap1 (in Drosophila) directly bind to caspases via their BIR (baculovirus inhibitory
repeat) domains, to inhibit caspase activity. In Drosophila, reaper, grim and hid are three Diap1 antagonists, which directly bind Diap1 via the short Nterminal peptide motif termed IBM (IAP-binding motif) present in all three proteins, to release caspases from the negative interaction with Diap1. In
mammalians, Smac/Diablo, HtrA2/Omi and ARTS (apoptosis-related protein in the TGF-signalling pathway) can function as antagonists of IAPs.
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF LIFE SCIENCES & 2010, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. www.els.net
Extrinsic pathway
The decision to undergo apoptosis may also be determined
by the balance between proapoptotic and antiapoptotic
signalling events triggered by environmental (extracellular)
factors, such as Fas ligand (FasL/CD95L), tumour necrosis
factor a (TNFa), transforming growth factor b (TGFb) and
cytokines. Most growth factors and cytokines promote cell
survival, growth and dierentiation, by triggering antiapoptotic signalling on their target cells. In fact, the loss of
certain cell types due to mutations of critical growth factors
can be rescued by targeted overexpression of the generic
antiapoptotic factor Bcl-2. Results such as this suggest that,
in certain situations, suppression of apoptosis is a major
function of growth factors and cytokines, and that cell
dierentiation may represent the default pathway for precursor cells that survive. Among the intracellular (noncytokine) factors that have been shown to potently suppress
apoptosis are the CD40 ligand, viral genes such as E1B from
adenovirus or p35 from baculovirus and antiapoptotic
members of the Bcl-2 family. A large number of DNA
viruses have been demonstrated to encode factors which
function to curtail the cellular apoptotic response, presumably a prerequisite for successful viral infection and
propagation. See also: Cytokines; Death Receptors; Oncogenes; Transforming Growth Factor Beta: Role in Cell
Growth and Dierentiation
In mammals, the extrinsic pathway mediates apoptosis
in response to the activation of cell-surface death receptors,
such as Fas/CD95 and TNFa receptor. Death receptors
can induce apoptosis directly, through the activation of
caspases or indirectly, by amplifying the death signal
through the activation of the intrinsic/mitochondrial
pathway. All Fas receptors contain a conserved extracellular death receptor domain (DR), where FasL binds,
inducing the oligomerization of death receptors and initiating a cascade of events that leads to the activation of
apoptosis in the target cells. Activated death receptors bind
the adaptor molecule Fas-associated death domain
(FADD) via the death domain (DD) and FADD recruits
the initiator procaspase-8 and procaspase-10 into a
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF LIFE SCIENCES & 2010, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. www.els.net
Ligand (FasL)
Extrinsic
pathway
Mitochondrial
pathway
Death receptor
(FAS)
Smac/
Diablo
DED
DED
DD
DISC
complex
DED
DD
DD
Bcl-xL
HtrA2/
Omi
Bax
Bak
Adaptor
(FAD)
MOMP
tBid
Procaspace
(Caspase-8/-10)
Cyt C
Release
Bid
IAPs
Caspase-8
Caspase-10
Apaf-1
Caspase-9
Apoptosome
Activation of
effector caspases
(caspase-3, -6, -7)
Figure 2 The extrinsic pathway mediated by the FAS death receptor. FasL activates the Fas receptor by binding to the extracellular death receptor domain. Fas
receptor also contains a cytoplasmic motif known as the death domain (DD), which is also found in the adaptor proteins FADD, TRADD and RIP. The DD of Fas
binds to the DD of FADD, whereas FADD interacts with procaspase-8/-10, through another motif designated death effector domain (DED). The formation of
this complex of FAS/FADD/procaspase-8/-10 (DISC complex) is required for the activation of caspases. Caspase-8, in turn, cleaves both effector caspases and
Bid, a proapoptotic member of the Bcl-2 family of proteins. The processed Bid (tBid) activates Bax and Bak, members of the Bcl-2 family that oligomerize to
promote MOMP. tBid inhibits the function of the antiapoptotic members of the Bcl-2 family (Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL), which normally prevent the oligomerization of
Bax and Bak, inhibiting MOMP and apoptosis. MOMP allows the release of various proapoptotic mitochondrial proteins such as cytochrome c, Smac/Diablo and
HtrA2/Omi that further activate the apoptotic cascade. Cytochrome c induces the heptamerization of the cytosolic protein Apaf-1, which binds procaspase-9 to
form the active apoptosome complex for cleavage of effector caspases, whereas SMAC and HtrA2 act as inhibitors of IAPs.
domains: antiapoptotic proteins with multiple BH domains (BH1BH4), proapoptotic proteins with multiple
domains (BH1BH3) and proapoptotic proteins with
BH3-only domain (Table 1).
In the prevailing model for regulation of apoptosis by Bcl2 family members (Figure 2), the antiapoptotic multidomain
members, such as Bcl-2, bind to and neutralize the proapoptotic members (Bax) in nonapoptotic cells. On receiving
death-inducing signals, BH3-only domain proteins inactivate the antiapoptotic multidomain proteins, releasing the
proapoptotic proteins from the inhibitory interaction with
the antiapoptotic proteins. The proapoptotic Bcl-2 family
proteins then oligomerize, creating pores in the mitochondrial outer membrane and allowing the release of cytochrome c into the cytoplasm, which leads to caspase
4
BH domains
Member proteins
Antiapoptotic
Proapoptotic
Proapoptotic
Multiple
Multiple
BH3-only
activation and cell death. In an alternative model, the antiapoptotic members directly bind and inhibit the BH3-only
domain proteins, which otherwise directly induce the oligomerization of the proapoptotic multidomain proteins.
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF LIFE SCIENCES & 2010, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. www.els.net
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF LIFE SCIENCES & 2010, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. www.els.net
Hypoxia
DNA damage
Oncogenic activation
Ribosomal stress
Cytoplasmic
(e.g.MYC)
Nuclear
ARF
Apoptosis:
P
p p53
p53
MDM2
p p53
Senescence:
Activity
stabilization
Ub
- p21
p53
Bcl-xL
26S
proteosome
p53
Bax
Bak
Ub
p53
Bcl-xL
Puma
Ub
- PAI-1
Puma
Ub
- PUMA
- NOXA
- MDM2
- Apaf-1
- Bax
- Fas
p53
MOMP
Mitochondrial outer membrane
Figure 3 Regulation of apoptosis by p53. Several stress conditions (DNA damage, hypoxia, oncogene activation, among others) lead to the transcriptional
activation and an increase of the p53 protein levels. Activation of p53 promotes the transcriptional activation of many target genes involved in several cellular
responses: apoptosis, cell cycle arrest, DNA repair and senescence. Under normal physiological conditions, the cytoplasmic p53 protein is maintained at low
levels by MDM2 (an E3 ubiquitin ligase) that targets the p53 protein to ubiquitylation (Ub) and subsequent degradation by the proteosome. MDM2 is also a
target of the nuclear p53 protein and MDM2 activity is counteracted by ARF in response to activation of oncogenes, such as c-MYC. Inhibition of MDM2
allows p53 to accumulate, both in the nucleus and the cytoplasm. In the cytoplasm, p53 can interact with proteins of the Bcl-2 family, being sequestered by
Bcl-xL at the mitochondrial outer membrane. PUMA, which is a transcriptional target of nuclear p53, is capable of disrupting the Bcl-xL/p53 interaction,
allowing p53 to interact with Bax/Bak proteins and inducing MOMP and the subsequent cascade of the mitochondrial apoptotic pathway (Green and
Kroemer, 2009).
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF LIFE SCIENCES & 2010, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. www.els.net
of NFkB and the transcriptional activation of NFkB target genes. Two distinct NFkB activation cascades, that
respond to dierent stimuli, can be triggered: the canonical
(or classical) NFkB pathway and the noncanonical (or
alternative) NFkB signalling cascade (Dutta et al., 2006).
The NFkB canonical pathway is activated in response to
injury, inammation, infection and other stress conditions.
Some of the target genes activated by the NFkB pathway
include antiapoptotic factors of the Bcl-2 family (Bcl-xL,
Bcl-2). The antiapoptotic role of NFkB factors was rst
demonstrated by the embryonic lethality of RelA-decient
mice, which develop massive liver cell apoptosis. Transcriptional activity of NFkB factors is inhibited by IkB
proteins that mask the DNA-binding ability of NFkB
dimers (p60/p50) by sequestering them in the cytoplasm.
This inhibitory activity of IkB is counteracted by IkB
kinases (IKK), that promote phosphorylation and degradation of IkB by the proteosome and release of NFkB
dimers.
NFkB has been shown to protect cells from apoptosis in
a number of scenarios, including TNFa signalling and
antiimmunoglobulin M (anti-IgM)- or TGFb-mediated
apoptosis. Apoptosis induced by TNFa signalling can be
greatly enhanced when a dominant inhibitor of NFkB,
IkB-a, is introduced into cells, preventing activation of
endogenous NFkB; furthermore, introduction of wild-type
NFkB impedes TNFa-induced apoptosis. However under
specic circumstances proapoptotic activity of NFkB can
also occur. NFkB can induce the transcription of proapoptotic target genes, including the Fas death receptor and
respective death-inducing ligand, p53 and the proapoptotic
Bcl-2 family members Bax and Bcl-xL cascade (Dutta et al.,
2006).
Conclusions
Apoptosis involves a cascade of complex events, from
external apoptotic signals activating specic receptor
complexes to the execution of apoptosis by activation of
proteases and endonucleases. The commitment to apoptosis depends on the balance between proapoptotic and
antiapoptotic signalling components within cells. The
understanding of these signalling pathways and molecular
regulators opens enormous opportunities that may lead to
specic therapies for diseases caused by deregulation of the
normal cell death processes.
References
Chao DT and Korsmeyer SJ (1998) BCL-2 family: regulators of
cell death. Annual Review of Immunology 16: 395419.
Danial NN and Korsmeyer SJ (2004) Cell death: critical control
points. Cell 116: 205219.
de la Cova C, Abril M, Bellosta P, Gallant P and Johnston LA
(2004) Drosophila myc regulates organ size by inducing cell
competition. Cell 117: 107116.
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF LIFE SCIENCES & 2010, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. www.els.net
Further Reading
Abraham MC and Shaham S (2004) Death without caspases, caspases without death. Trends in Cell Biology 14: 184
193.
Bao Q and Shi Y (2007) Apoptosome: a platform for the activation of initiator caspases. Cell Death and Dierentiation 14:
5665.
Cotter TG (2009) Apoptosis and cancer: the genesis of a research
eld. Nature Reviews of Cancer 9: 301307.
Dey A, Tergaonkar V and Lane DP (2008) Double-edge swords
as cancer therapeutics: simultaneously targeting p53 and
NF-kB pathways. Nature Reviews of Drug Discovery 7: 1031
1040.
Domingos PM and Steller H (2007) Pathways regulating apoptosis during patterning and development. Current Opinion in
Genetics and Development 17: 294299.
Evan G and Littlewood T (1998) A matter of life and cell death.
Science 281: 13171322.
Fan Y and Bergmann A (2008) Apoptosis-induced compensatory
proliferation. The cell is dead. Long live the cell. Trends in Cell
Biology 18: 467473.
Galluzzi L and Kroemer G (2008) Necroptosis: a specialized
pathway of programmed necrosis. Cell 135: 11611163.
Hengartner MO and Horvitz HR (1994) Programmed cell death
in Caenorhabditis elegans. Current Opinion in Genetics and
Development 4: 581.
Hipfner DR and Cohen SM (2004) Connecting proliferation and
apoptosis in development and disease. Nature Reviews of
Molecular Cell Biology 5: 805815.
Metzstein MM, Staneld GM and Horvitz HR (1998) Genetics of
programmed cell death in C. elegans: past, present and future.
Trends in Genetics 14: 410416.
Reed JC (1998) Bcl-2 family proteins. Oncogene 17: 32253236.
White E (1996) Life, death, and the pursuit of apoptosis. Genes &
Development 10: 115.
Zou H, Henzel WJ, Liu X, Lutschg A and Wang X (1997) Apaf-1,
a human protein homologous to C. elegans CED-4, participates
in cytochrome c-dependent activation of caspase-3. Cell 90:
405413.
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF LIFE SCIENCES & 2010, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. www.els.net