Journal article
Surviving the kiss of death.
- 2004-08-18
Published in:
- Biochemical pharmacology. - 2004
Animals
Apoptosis
Caspases
Cell Survival
Enzyme Activation
Humans
Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases
ras GTPase-Activating Proteins
ras Proteins
English
Executioner caspases induce the biochemical and cellular changes characteristic of apoptosis. Activation of caspases is therefore regarded as "the kiss of death" resulting in the cell's demise. Recent reports indicate however that in some situations, caspase activation may induce other responses than apoptosis. These findings raise the question of how cells manage to counteract the killing activities of executioner caspases. Experiments performed in our laboratory have unraveled a mechanism that allows cells to survive in the presence of activated executioner caspases. This mechanism is based on the partial cleavage of RasGAP into an N-terminal fragment that activates the Ras-PI3K-Akt survival pathway. This protective pathway may be activated to allow cells to use executioner caspases for other purposes than inducing apoptosis.
- Language
-
- English
- Open access status
- closed
- Identifiers
-
- DOI 10.1016/j.bcp.2004.03.043
- PMID 15313397
- Persistent URL
- https://sonar.ch/global/documents/277944
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