1,721,005 research outputs found

    Autophagy-dependent cell survival and cell death in an autosomal dominant familial neurohypophyseal diabetes insipidus in vitro model

    No full text
    Mutations in the human gene encoding the antidiuretic hormone vasopressin (VP) cause autosomal dominant familial neurohypophyseal diabetes insipidus (adFNDI), a rare inherited disorder that presents as polydipsia and polyuria as a consequence of a loss of secretion of VP from posterior pituitary nerve terminals. Work from our laboratories has shown that adFNDI, like other neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Huntington's, is associated with autophagy. We have recently shown that the activation of autophagy in mouse neuroblastoma Neuro2a cells after adenoviral vector-mediated delivery of an adFNDI mutant VP transgene (Cys67stop) is a cell survival mechanism; its inhibition induces apoptosis. We now show that expression of Cys67stop sensitizes Neuro2a cells to the lethal effects of dopamine. This mode of cell death exhibits features typically associated with classical apoptosis. Yet inhibition of autophagy reversed these effects and rescued cell viability. We propose that autophagy-mediated cell death is a "two-hit" process: Following the cellular stress of the accumulation of a misfolded mutant protein, autophagy is prosurvival. However, a second insult triggers an autophagy-dependent apoptosis

    Destination 'Lysosome': a target organelle for tumour cell killing?

    No full text
    Lysosomes and lysosome-related organelles constitute a system of acid compartments that interconnect the inside of the cell with the extracellular environment via endocytosis, phagocytosis and exocytosis. In recent decades it has been recognized that lysosomes are not just wastebaskets for disposal of unused cellular constituents, but that they are involved in several cellular processes such as post-translational maturation of proteins, degradation of receptors and extracellular release of active enzymes. By complementing the autophagic process, lysosomes actively contribute to the maintenance of cellular homeostasis. Proteolysis by lysosomal cathepsins has been shown to mediate the death signal of cytotoxic drugs and cytokines, as well as the activation of pro-survival factors. Secreted lysosomal cathepsins have been shown to degrade protein components of the extracellular matrix, thus contributing actively to its re-modelling in physiological and pathological processes. The malfunction of lysosomes can, therefore, impact on cell behaviour and fate. Here we review the role of lysosomal hydrolases in several aspects of the malignant phenotype including loss of cell growth control, altered regulation of cell death, acquisition of chemoresistance and of metastatic potential. Based on these observations, the lysosome is proposed as a potential target organelle for the chemotherapy of tumours. We will also present some recent data concerning the technologies for delivering chemotherapeutic drugs to the endosomal-lysosomal compartment and the strategies to improve their efficacy

    Akt induces apoptosis in neuroblastoma cells expressing a C98X vasopressin mutant following autophagy suppression

    No full text
    Mutations in the arginine vasopressin (AVP)-neurophysin II (NP-II) gene that affect the folding and transport of the prohormone result in loss of secretion of the anti-diuretic hormone AVP from pituitary nerve terminals and cause autosomal dominant familial neurohypophyseal diabetes insipidus (adFNDI). One such mutation consists of the replacement of a Cys residue at position 98 with a stop codon (C98X) in the AVP precursor (corresponding to C67X in NP domain). In neuroblastoma cells over-expressing this truncated AVP precursor autophagy, a macromolecular degradation process, was shown to be essential for assuring cell survival. In the present study, we investigated the role of the Akt pro-survival signalling in the regulation of autophagy and of apoptosis linked with the handling of C98X AVP. Impairing autophagy-lysosomal sequestration or cathepsin D (CD)-mediated proteolysis triggered the activation of the intrinsic death pathway of apoptosis in C98X-expressing cells, but not in the wild-type -AVP-expressing cells. This was shown by the expression of a Vps34 dominant negative, which down-regulates the PI3k class III-dependent signalling needed for autophagosome (APH) formation, by genetic silencing as a result of RNA interference (RNAi) of Lamp2, a protein indispensable for the fusion of APHs with lysosomes, and by RNAi silencing of the lysosomal protease CD. Ectopic expression of either the wild-type or the mutated C98X AVP altered neither the expression nor the phosphorylation of the pro-survival signalling molecule Akt. Strikingly, the ectopic adenoviral-directed expression of a constitutively active Akt, instead of preserving cell survival, resulted in the suppression of autophagy, and precipitated Bax-mediated cell death. The present data demonstrate the need for autophagy-mediated degradation of mutated C98X peptides, which otherwise become toxic to the cell, and suggest that, in the presence of mis-folded proteins, the stimulation of the Akt signalling counteracts the beneficial effects of autophagy and precipitates cell death. It follows that growth factors impinging on the Akt pathway may have deleterious effect in neurones expressing mutant neuropeptides. This can provide an explanation for the late onset and progressive neuronal cell loss observed in hypothalamic magnocellular neurones of adFNDI patients

    Autophagy is a prosurvival mechanism in cells expressing an autosomal dominant familial neurohypophyseal diabetes insipidus mutant vasopressin transgene

    No full text
    Autosomal dominant familial neurohypophyseal diabetes insipidus (adFNDI) is a progressive, inherited neurodegenerative disorder that presents as polydipsia and polyuria as a consequence of a loss of secretion of the antidiuretic hormone vasopressin (VP) from posterior pituitary nerve terminals. VP gene mutations cause adFNDI. Rats expressing an adFNDI VP transgene (Cys67stop) show a neuronal pathology characterized by autophagic structures in the cell body. adFNDI has thus been added to the list of protein aggregation diseases, along with Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Huntington's, which are associated with autophagy, a bulk process that delivers regions of cytosol to lysosomes for degradation. However, the role of autophagy in these diseases is unclear. To address the relationships between mutant protein accumulation, autophagy, cell survival, and cell death, we have developed a novel and tractable in vitro system. We have constructed adenoviral vectors (Ads) that express structural genes encoding either the Cys67stop mutant protein (Ad-VCAT-Cys67stop) or an epitope-tagged wild-type VP precursor (Ad-VCAT). After infection of mouse neuroblastoma Neuro2a cells, Ad-VCAT encoded material enters neurite processes and accumulates in terminals, while the Cys67stop protein is confined to enlarged vesicles in the cell body. Similar to the intracellular derangements seen in the Cys67stop rats, these structures are of ER origin, and colocalize with markers of autophagy. Neither Ad-VCAT-Cys67stop nor Ad-VCAT expression affected cell viability. However, inhibition of autophagy or lysosomal protein degradation, while having no effect on Ad-VCAT-expressing cells, significantly increased apoptotic cell death following Ad-VCAT-Cys67stop expression. These data suggest that activation of autophagy by the stress of the expression of an adFNDI mutant protein is a prosurvival mechanism
    corecore