Perforin-mediated cytotoxicity is an essential host defense, in which defects contribute to tumor development and pathogenic disorders including autoimmunity and autoinflammation. How perforin (PFN) facilitates intracellular delivery of pro-apoptotic and inflammatory granzymes across the bilayer of targets remains unresolved. Here we show that cellular susceptibility to granzyme B (GzmB) correlates with rapid PFN-induced phosphatidylserine externalization, suggesting that pores are formed at a protein-lipid interface by incomplete membrane oligomers (or arcs). Supporting a role for these oligomers in protease delivery, an anti-PFN antibody (pf-80) suppresses necrosis but increases phosphatidylserine flip-flop and GzmB-induced apoptosis. As shown by atomic force microscopy on planar bilayers and deep-etch electron microscopy on mammalian cells, pf-80 increases the proportion of arcs which correlates with the presence of smaller electrical conductances, while large cylindrical pores decline. PFN appears to form arc structures on target membranes that serve as minimally disrupting conduits for GzmB translocation. The role of these arcs in PFN-mediated pathology warrants evaluation where they may serve as novel therapeutic targets. Cell Death and Differentiation ( The cytotoxic cell granule-secretory pathway depends on perforin (PFN) to deliver granzyme (Gzm) proteases to the cytosol of target cells where they induce apoptosis and other biological effects, such as inflammation. 1 Ring-shaped transmembrane PFN pores hereafter called 'cylindrical pores', are presumed to act as the gateway for cytosolic entry, either at the plasma membrane or after endocytosis. [2][3][4] In either case the highly cationic Gzms are thought to diffuse through these cylindrical pores formed by poly-PFN. Nevertheless, a mechanistic understanding of the phenomenon (how the cationic globular protein exchanges from its carrier proteoglycan, serglycin, to the pore and crosses the plasma and/or vesicular membranes) has been lacking due to limitations in imaging technology and in our detailed understanding of the molecular forms that PFN may adopt following interaction with a target cell plasma membrane.Here we show under conditions where cylindrical pore formation is minimal, 5 that granzyme B (GzmB) translocation readily occurs. We previously demonstrated that a prelude to granzyme translocation is PFN-mediated, Ca-independent phosphatidylserine (PS) externalization (flip-flop) measured by annexin-V and lactadherin binding. 6 This rapid PS flip-flop also occurs when mouse CD8 cells contact antigen-pulsed target cells. Inasmuch as the proteinaceous cylinders offer a formidable barrier to lipid flow, we have speculated that the observed movement of anionic phospholipids to the external leaflet is due to the formation of proteo-lipidic structures, which consists of oligomerized PFN monomers bearing an arc morphology and plasma membrane lipids. [6][7][8] In the work reported here, the topology of PFN embedded into homogeneous planar bilayers and t...
Mcl-1 is a unique antiapoptotic Bcl2 family member with a short half-life due to its rapid turnover through ubiquitination. We discovered that Ku70, a DNA double-strand break repair protein, functions as a deubiquitinase to stabilize Mcl-1. Ku70 knockout in mouse embryonic fibroblast (MEF) Mcl-1 is an antiapoptotic molecule that is overexpressed in various types of cancers, including lung cancer, 1 leukemia, 2 lymphoma, 3 hepatocellular carcinoma 4 and so on. In addition to its antiapoptotic function, Mcl-1 is also an oncoprotein that promotes the development of cancer. 5 In contrast to other Bcl2 family members such as Bcl2 and Bcl-XL, Mcl-1 is unique in its short half-life (30 min-3 h) and short-term prosurvival function, which probably relates to the presence of a long proline-, glutamic acid-, serine-and threonine-rich (PEST) region upstream of the Bcl2 homology (BH) domain. 1 The mechanism(s) that stabilizes the Mcl-1 protein are critical for its long-term survival function. Mcl-1 protein can be phosphorylated at multiple sites that distinctly regulate Mcl-1 protein turnover. For example, extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2-mediated T163 site phosphorylation enhances the half-life and antiapoptotic function of Mcl-1. 1,6 In contrast, S159 phosphorylation by GSK-3b facilitates Mcl-1 ubiquitination and degradation to reduce its survival activity. 7 Ubiquitination and deubiquitination are two reversible processes that can control protein stability. E3 ligases and deubiquitinases (deubiquitinating enzymes (DUBs)) are two groups of regulatory enzymes that orchestrate the ubiquitination levels of target proteins in eukaryotic cells. 8 Recently, Mule and FBW7 have been identified as Mcl-1 ubiquitin E3 ligases that can directly induce polyubiquitination and degradation of Mcl-1. 9,10 Inversely, USP9X has been demonstrated as the Mcl-1 deubiquitinase that removes the Lys 48-linked polyubiquitin chains that normally mark Mcl-1 for proteasomal degradation, leading to stabilization of Mcl-1. 3 Therefore, the stability of Mcl-1 in cells is tightly regulated by its E3 ligases and deubiquitinase, which is dependent on Mcl-1 phosphorylation status. 3,11 Ku70 is a protein that binds to DNA double-strand break (DSB) ends and is required for the non-homologous endjoining pathway of DSB repair. 12-15 The Ku70 protein consists of three structural domains, including the N-terminal, central (that is, DNA binding) and C-terminal domains. 16,17 Ku70 usually heterodimerizes with Ku86, which forms a functional complex for DSB repair. By forming a bridge between the broken DNA ends, the Ku70/Ku86 heterodimer acts to structurally support and align the DNA ends, to protect them from degradation and to prevent promiscuous binding to unbroken DNA. Ku70/Ku86 effectively aligns the DNA, while still allowing access of polymerases, nucleases and ligases to the broken DNA ends to promote end joining. 18 In some cases, a fourth domain is present at the C terminus of Ku86, which binds to the DNA-dependent protein kinase catalytic subunit...
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