Role of caspase-10 in the death of acute leukemia cells

Abstract

Abstract. Autophagy can protect cells from stress, but can also induce cancer cell death. Caspase-10 is now considered to be a factor that is associated with autophagy in cancer. The present study therefore investigated whether caspase-10 affects autophagy in acute leukemia cells. The rates of survival vs. apoptosis in acute leukemia HL-60 and Jurkat cells treated with drugs were tested using cell viability assays and flow cytometry, and the levels of caspase-3 and -10 were tested by western blotting. In HL-60 cells that were treated with chemotherapy drugs combined with a caspase-10 inhibitor, the rate of survival decreased significantly compared with HL-60 cells treated with chemotherapy drugs alone. In contrast, the rate of survival of Jurkat cells treated with chemotherapy drugs combined with the caspase-10 inhibitor increased significantly compared with Jurkat cells treated with chemotherapy drugs alone. The results of the flow cytometry and western blotting showed that the changes in the survival rate may be caused by a change in the amount of apoptosis occurring in the Jurkat cells treated with chemotherapy drugs combined with the caspase-10 inhibitor. However, in HL-60 cells undergoing this combination treatment, the change in the survival rate was not caused by a change in the rate of apoptosis. When HL-60 cells were treated with the chemotherapy drugs combined with the caspase-10 inhibitor and the autophagy inhibitor 3-methyl adenine, the survival rate increased, whereas the rate of apoptosis did not change. These results show that caspase-10 may be associated with autophagy in acute myeloid leukemia cells, but not in acute lymphatic leukemia cells.

Genome‐wide characterization of caspase genes in Japanese pufferfish, Takifugu rubripes, and expression profiles in response to Vibrio harveyi infection

“…Casp9 participates in the intrinsic pathway and can be activated by cellular stresses (Ping et al, 2017). Casp10 is involved in caspase activation and recruitment to Fas and TNFR‐1 receptors in a FADD‐dependent manner during apoptosis (Guo et al, 2016). Among the detected tissues, Casp9 was expressed at the highest level in skin of Japanese pufferfish.…”