Heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) is critical for the photoreceptor stress response after retinal detachment via modulating anti-apoptotic Akt kinase

Photoreceptor apoptosis is a major cause of vision loss in many ocular diseases. Significant progress has been made to elucidate the molecular pathways involved in this process, yet little is known about proteins counteracting these apoptotic pathways. It is established that heat shock proteins (HSPs) function as molecular helper proteins (chaperones) by preventing protein aggregation and facilitating refolding of dysfunctional proteins, critical to the survival of all organisms. Here, we investigated the role of HSP70 on photoreceptor survival after experimental retinal detachment (RD) in mice and rats. We found that HSP70 was up-regulated after RD and associated with phosphorylated Akt, thereby preventing its dephosphorylation and further activation of cell death pathways. Administration of quercetin, which inhibits HSP70 and suppresses Akt phosphorylation significantly increased photoreceptor apoptosis. Similarly, RD-induced photoreceptor apoptosis was augmented in mice carrying hypomorphic mutations of the genes encoding HSP70. On the other hand, administration of geranylgeranylacetone, which induces an increase in HSP70 significantly decreased photoreceptor apoptosis after RD through prolonged activation of Akt pathway. Thus, HSP70 may be a favorable potential target to increase photoreceptor cell survival after RD.     

RIP1在细胞程序性死亡中作用的研究进展

近期研究发现受体相互作用蛋白（receptor—interacting protein,RIP）是细胞生存和死亡的重要交叉点,在细胞的凋亡与存活、程序性坏死等过程中发挥着关键性的作用。RIP1为RIP家族中的第一个成员,是一种重要的细胞信号转导调控分子。RIP1的结构与生物学功能及在细胞程序性死亡中的作用具有重要意义。     

RIPK3-driven cell death during virus infections

The programmed self-destruction of infected cells is a powerful antimicrobial strategy in metazoans. For decades, apoptosis represented the dominant mechanism by which the virus-infected cell was thought to undergo programmed cell death. More recently, however, new mechanisms of cell death have been described that are also key to host defense. One such mechanism in vertebrates is programmed necrosis, or “necroptosis”, driven by receptor-interacting protein kinase 3 (RIPK3). Once activated by innate immune stimuli, including virus infections, RIPK3 phosphorylates the mixed lineage kinase domain-like protein (MLKL), which then disrupts cellular membranes to effect necroptosis. Emerging evidence demonstrates that RIPK3 can also mediate apoptosis and regulate inflammasomes. Here, we review studies on the mechanisms by which viruses activate RIPK3 and the pathways engaged by RIPK3 that drive cell death.     

头帕肿瘤综合征蛋白与肿瘤坏死因子受体介导的坏死样凋亡

头帕肿瘤综合征蛋白(cylindromatosis,CYLD)是一种去泛素化酶,其C-末端USP结构域具有催化功能,可移除受体相互作用蛋白激酶1(receptor interacting protein kinase 1,RIPK1)的K63连接泛素链,调节RIPK1的泛素化水平,从而参与调节肿瘤坏死因子受体1(tumor necrosis factor receptor 1, TNFR1)介导的RIPK依赖的细胞坏死样凋亡等病理生理过程。阐明CYLD对RIPK1去泛素化调节的详细机制,寻找针对CYLD的特异性抑制剂,可为与坏死样凋亡相关的损伤与疾病提供治疗的新策略。     

坏死性凋亡与脑卒中的研究进展*

程序性死亡包括凋亡、焦亡、铁死亡、坏死性凋亡和自噬等。坏死性凋亡可由多种外部刺激触发，不依赖 caspase 途径，是包括神经系统疾病在内的诸多疾病关键致病因素。前期研究显示，卒中时脑内坏死性凋亡相关 途径被激活，与卒中的致病密切相关，而对坏死性凋亡进行基因调节或药理学抑制，对卒中具有一定的神经保护 作用，因此坏死性凋亡有望成为卒中治疗的潜在靶标。现简要总结坏死性凋亡在卒中致病中的作用，并提出了靶 向坏死性凋亡治疗卒中时存在的一些问题。     

Microarray expression analysis of the early N-methy-N-nitrosourea-induced retinal degeneration in rat

The study was undertaken to investigate the gene expressions in N-methy-N-nitrosourea (MNU)-induced rat retinal degeneration (RD) by performing microarray analysis of retinal RNA at 12h. All rats were randomly divided into a normal group, a 12h model group and a 24h model group. Rats in the two model groups received a single intraperitoneal injection of 40 mg/kg body weight of MNU, while those in the normal group were injected with equivalent volume of physiological saline. After 12h and 24h of the injection, rats in each respective group were sacrificed, respectively. One eye of each animal was used for hematoxylin and erosin (H&E) staining, and fresh retinas of the other eye of each animal in the both normal group and 12h model group were used to extract total RNA, which was analyzed by microarray and real time RT-PCR. Retinal histological alteration was found in the 24h model group. There were 75 genes differently expressed (ratio > or =2.0), including 64 genes up-regulated and 11 genes down-regulated. Seven genes were assayed by real time RT-PCR and demonstrated the same alteration tendency as in microarray analysis. These genes that expressed differently mainly involved signal transduction, development, immune and defense, and apoptosis, etc. The major pathways were MAP-kinase signaling pathways, Toll-like receptor signaling pathway and apoptosis pathway involved. The results suggest that there are significant changes of gene expression in the early stage of MNU-induced RD. These microarray results provide clues to understand the molecular pathways underlying photoreceptor degeneration and indicate directions for future studies.     

Programmed necrosis and its role in management of breast cancer

Breast cancer is one of the major causes of cancer related deaths in women worldwide. A major factor responsible for treatment failure in breast cancer is the development of resistance to commonly used chemotherapeutic drugs leading to disease relapse. Several studies have shown dysregulation of molecular machinery of apoptosis, the major programmed cell death pathway in breast malignancies. Thus, there is an unmet need to search for an alternative cell death pathway which can work when apoptosis is compromised. Necroptosis or programmed necrosis is a relatively recently described entity which has attracted attention in this context. Classically, even in physiological conditions necroptosis is found to act if apoptosis is not functional due to some reason. Recently, more and more studies are being conducted in different malignancies to explore the possibility and utility of inducing cell death by necroptosis. The present review describes the key molecular players involved in necroptotic pathway and their status in breast cancer. In addition, the research done to utilize this pathway for treatment of breast cancer has also been highlighted.     

Autoantibody-induced apoptosis as a possible mechanism of autoimmune retinopathy

Circulating antibodies specific to retinal proteins have been associated with retinal dysfunction in patients with retinopathy. Anti-recoverin antibodies found in patients with cancer-associated retinopathy (CAR) represent a unique model to study the relationship between retinal degeneration and autoimmunity. A body of evidence from in vitro and in vivo studies indicates that anti-recoverin autoantibodies are cytotoxic to retinal cells and induce apoptotic death of retinal photoreceptor cells, which leads to the degeneration of the photoreceptor cell layer. Similar to anti-recoverin autoantibodies, antibodies with other retinal specificities induce their target retinal cell death by activating a caspase 3-dependent apoptotic pathway. Thus, autoantibody-induced apoptosis may be a common pathway that leads to retinal death and blindness.     

莱菔硫烷对糖尿病大鼠视网膜神经细胞的保护作用

目的:研究莱菔硫烷(SF)对糖尿病大鼠视网膜神经细胞的保护效应,并初步探讨其作用机制。方法:通过一次性腹腔注射链脲佐菌素的方法制备糖尿病大鼠模型;通过测定活性氧簇(ROS)的生成、TUNEL法检测视网膜细胞的凋亡和计数存活的视网膜神经节细胞(RGCs)等方法作为指标观察SF对糖尿病大鼠视网膜神经细胞的保护效应;以免疫组织化学染色和Western blot法检测视网膜核因子E2相关因子2(Nrf2)的核转移和血红素加氧酶1(HO-1)的表达变化。结果:SF能抑制糖尿病大鼠视网膜ROS的生成,抑制视网膜神经细胞的凋亡并增加糖尿病大鼠视网膜RGCs的存活数量;同时SF还可促进Nrf2的激活及HO-1蛋白表达;使用HO-1抑制剂锌原卟啉可明显减弱SF对糖尿病大鼠视网膜RGCs凋亡的抑制作用。结论:SF可能通过激活Nrf2/HO-1抗氧化通路改善糖尿病大鼠视网膜氧化应激状态,减少视网膜神经细胞凋亡,减轻糖尿病大鼠的视网膜损伤。     

Anti-apoptotic effects of CNTF gene transfer on photoreceptor degeneration in experimental antibody-induced retinopathy

Autoantibodies against recoverin are found in the sera of patients with cancer-associated retinopathy syndrome, a paraneoplastic disease associated with retinal degeneration. We have previously shown that anti-recoverin autoantibodies induced photoreceptor apoptotic cell death after injection into the vitreous of Lewis rats. Ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) has been shown to promote the survival of a number of neuronal cell types, including photoreceptors. In this study, we examined whether an adeno-associated virus (AAV)-mediated delivery of gene encoding the human CNTF protected photoreceptor cells from anti-recoverin antibody-induced death. One month after subretinal injection of the AAV-CNTF gene into one eye and a control vector into the other eye, an anti-recoverin antibody was injected to induce retinal cell death in Lewis rats. Subretinal administration of the virus led to an efficient transduction of photoreceptors, as indicated by immunostaining of retinas with anti-CNTF. Histological examination of the corresponding retinas showed that photoreceptor cells were significantly protected from apoptotic death in the CNTF-treated eyes. CNTF treatment of the retinas resulted in a time-dependent activation of STAT 3. The present study shows that an AAV-mediated delivery of CNTF may protect photoreceptors from antibody-induced cell death through the activation of STAT3 and the suppression of caspase 3 activity, a key caspase leading to apoptosis. Thus, CNTF may be a useful treatment for human antibody-mediated retinal degeneration.     

Retinal ganglion cell death is induced by microglia derived pro-inflammatory cytokines in the hypoxic neonatal retina

Hypoxic injury, including that resulting in the retinopathy of prematurity, may induce retinal ganglion cell (RGC) death in the neonatal retina. We hypothesized that this may be mediated by excess production of tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-1β (IL-1β) by microglia. One-day-old Wistar rats were subjected to hypoxia for 2 h and the expression of TNF-α and IL-1β and their receptors was determined in the retina. The mRNA and protein expression of TNF-α, IL-1β, TNF-receptor 1 (TNF-R(1)), and IL-1 receptor 1 (IL-1R(1)) and the tissue concentration of TNF-α and IL-1β were up-regulated significantly after the hypoxic exposure. TNF-α and IL-1β immunoreactivity was localized in microglial cells, whereas that of TNF-R(1) and IL-1R(1) was restricted to RGCs, as confirmed by double immunofluorescence labelling. Along with this, increased expression of monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 and its receptor CCR2 was detected in the microglia. Primary cultured microglia subjected to hypoxia showed enhanced release of TNF-α and IL-1β. Primary cultured retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) treated with conditioned medium derived from hypoxic microglia showed enhanced apoptosis, which was significantly reduced when the cells were treated with microglia conditioned medium neutralized with TNF-α/IL-1β antibody. Our results suggest that activated microglial cells in hypoxic neonatal retina produce increased amounts of TNF-α and IL-1β that could induce RGC death.     

Interleukin-1β secreted from betanodavirus-infected microglia caused the death of neurons in giant grouper brains

High interleukin (IL)-1β gene expression was observed in dead giant grouper brains after nervous necrosis virus (NNV) infection. To investigate the neuronal death caused by NNV infection, primary tissue culture of giant grouper brains (pGB) was performed. In NNV-infected pGB cells, the viral capsid protein was detected in both neurons and microglia; furthermore, microglial proliferation and neuronal death were observed. The culture supernatant (CS) of NNV-infected pGB cells contained IL-1β and tumor necrosis factor-α, which were mainly released from the microglia. A new batch of pGB cells was treated with CS, resulting in neuronal death, which could be prevented by blocking the IL-1β in the CS by using anti-IL-1β polyclonal antibodies. Moreover, pGB cells treated with recombinant IL-1β showed microglial proliferation and neuronal death. Thus, NNV infection may activate microglial proliferation and stimulate microglial secretion of IL-1β, which is a critical cytokine responsible for neuronal death in NNV-infected grouper brains.     

The role of lysosomal rupture in neuronal death

Apoptosis research in the past two decades has provided an enormous insight into its role in regulating cell death. However, apoptosis is only part of the story, and inhibition of neuronal necrosis may have greater impact than apoptosis, on the treatment of stroke, traumatic brain injury, and neurodegenerative diseases. Since the “calpain–cathepsin hypothesis” was first formulated, the calpain- and cathepsin-mediated regulation of necrotic cascades observed in monkeys, has been demonstrated to be a common neuronal death mechanism occurring from simpler organisms to humans. However, the detailed mechanism inducing lysosomal destabilization still remains poorly understood. Heat-shock protein-70 (Hsp70) is known to stabilize lysosomal membrane and protect cells from oxidative stress and apoptotic stimuli in many cell death pathways. Recent proteomics approach comparing pre- and post-ischemic hippocampal CA1 neurons as well as normal and glaucoma-suffered retina of primates, suggested that the substrate protein upon which activated calpain acts at the lysosomal membrane of neurons might be Hsp70. Understanding the interaction between activated calpains and Hsp70 will help to unravel the mechanism that destabilizes the lysosomal membrane, and will provide new insights into clarifying the whole cascade of neuronal necrosis. Although available evidence is circumferential, it is hypothesized that activated calpain cleaves oxidative stress-induced carbonylated Hsp70.1 (a major human Hsp70) at the lysosomal membrane, which result in lysosomal rupture/permeabilization. This review aims at highlighting the possible mechanism of lysosomal rupture in neuronal death by a modified “calpain–cathepsin hypothesis”. As the autophagy–lysosomal degradation pathway is a target of oxidative stress, the implication of autophagy is also discussed.     

Necroptosis的调控机制及其在组织及细胞缺血损伤中的作用和意义

Necroptosis不同于坏死和凋亡,具有坏死的细胞形态特点和自噬的活化,并且是主动耗能的,是被一系列信号传导通路所调控的细胞死亡机制.Necroptosis的发现和确认为细胞死亡的逆转和治疗开创了一个新的研究和应用途经.RIP1激酶是调控Necroptosis 形成的关键酶,Necrostatins则是一类小分子化合物,它通过特异性地抑制细胞RIP1激酶而抑制Necroptosis 的形成.     

坏死性凋亡与肿瘤

坏死性凋亡是不依赖于caspase激活的一种细胞程序性死亡方式,其激活主要依赖于坏死性小体的形成。坏死性凋亡的调控受到多种因素响,RIPK1既可启动坏死性凋亡,也可抑制坏死性凋亡;caspase-8是坏死性凋亡的重要负反馈调节蛋白;CHIP是新发现的坏死性凋亡调控蛋白。坏死性凋亡的触发为对经典凋亡途径抵抗的肿瘤提供了新的治疗策略。     

Stromal cell-derived factor-1 is essential for photoreceptor cell protection in retinal detachment

Stromal cell-derived factor-1 (SDF-1) causes chemotaxis of CXCR4-expressing bone marrow-derived cells. SDF-1 is involved in the pathogenesis of various vascular diseases, including those of the eye. However, the role of SDF-1 in neuronal diseases is not completely understood. Here, we show higher SDF-1 levels in the vitreous humor of patients with retinal detachment (RD) compared with normal patients. SDF-1 correlated positively with the duration as well as the extent of RD. Furthermore, SDF-1 correlated significantly with levels of interleukin-6 and interleukin-8, but not with vascular endothelial growth factor. Western blot analysis results showed significant SDF-1 up-regulation in detached rat retinas compared with normal animals. Immunohistochemistry data showed that SDF-1 was co-localized with the glial cells of the detached retina. SDF-1 blockade with a neutralizing antibody increased photoreceptor cell loss and macrophage accumulation in the subretinal space. The retinal precursor cell line R28 expressed CXCR4. SDF-1 rescued serum starvation-induced apoptosis in R28 cells and enhanced their ability to participate in wound closure in a scratch assay. Our results indicate a surprising, protective role for SDF-1 in RD. This effect may be mediated directly or indirectly through other cell types.