The role of caspases as executioners of apoptosis.

Caspases are a family of cysteine aspartyl proteases mostly involved in the execution of apoptotic cell death and in regulating inflammation. This article focuses primarily on the evolutionarily conserved function of caspases in apoptosis. We summarise which caspases are involved in apoptosis, how they are activated and regulated, and what substrates they target for cleavage to orchestrate programmed cell death by apoptosis.

Loss of caspase-2 augments lymphomagenesis and enhances genomic instability in Atm-deficient mice.

Caspase-2, the most evolutionarily conserved member of the caspase family, has been shown to be involved in apoptosis induced by various stimuli. Our recent work indicates that caspase-2 has putative functions in tumor suppression and protection against cellular stress. As such, the loss of caspase-2 enhances lymphomagenesis in Eµ-Myc transgenic mice, and caspase-2 KO (Casp2(-/-)) mice show characteristics of premature aging. However, the extent and specificity of caspase-2 function in tumor suppression is currently unclear. To further investigate this, ataxia telangiectasia mutated KO (Atm(-/-)) mice, which develop spontaneous thymic lymphomas, were used to generate Atm(-/-)Casp2(-/-) mice. Initial characterization revealed that caspase-2 deficiency enhanced growth retardation and caused synthetic perinatal lethality in Atm(-/-) mice. A comparison of tumor susceptibility demonstrated that Atm(-/-)Casp2(-/-) mice developed tumors with a dramatically increased incidence compared with Atm(-/-) mice. Atm(-/-)Casp2(-/-) tumor cells displayed an increased proliferative capacity and extensive aneuploidy that coincided with elevated oxidative damage. Furthermore, splenic and thymic T cells derived from premalignant Atm(-/-)Casp2(-/-) mice also showed increased levels of aneuploidy. These observations suggest that the tumor suppressor activity of caspase-2 is linked to its function in the maintenance of genomic stability and suppression of oxidative damage. Given that ATM and caspase-2 are important components of the DNA damage and antioxidant defense systems, which are essential for the maintenance of genomic stability, these proteins may synergistically function in tumor suppression by regulating these processes.

Understanding Developmental Cell Death Using Drosophila as a Model System.

Cell death plays an essential function in organismal development, wellbeing, and ageing. Many types of cell deaths have been described in the past 30 years. Among these, apoptosis remains the most conserved type of cell death in metazoans and the most common mechanism for deleting unwanted cells. Other types of cell deaths that often play roles in specific contexts or upon pathological insults can be classed under variant forms of cell death and programmed necrosis. Studies in Drosophila have contributed significantly to the understanding and regulation of apoptosis pathways. In addition to this, Drosophila has also served as an essential model to study the genetic basis of autophagy-dependent cell death (ADCD) and other relatively rare types of context-dependent cell deaths. Here, we summarise what is known about apoptosis, ADCD, and other context-specific variant cell death pathways in Drosophila, with a focus on developmental cell death.

Ndfip1-deficient mice have impaired DMT1 regulation and iron homeostasis.

The divalent metal ion transporter DMT1 is critical for nonheme iron import. We have previously shown that DMT1 is regulated in vitro by ubiquitination that is facilitated by the adaptor proteins Ndfip1 and Ndfip2. Here we report that in Ndfip1(-/-) mice fed a low- iron diet, DMT1 expression and activity in duodenal enterocytes are significant higher than in the wild-type animals. This correlates with an increase in serum iron levels and transferrin saturation. Liver and spleen iron stores were also increased in Ndfip1(-/-) mice fed a normal diet. Counterintuitive to the increase in iron uptake, Ndfip1(-/-) mice fed a low iron diet develop severe microcytic, hypochromic anemia. We demonstrate that this is due to a combination of iron deficiency and inflammatory disease in Ndfip1(-/-) mice, because Ndfip1(-/-)/Rag1(-/-) immunodeficient mice fed a low iron diet did not develop anemia and showed an iron overload phenotype. These data demonstrate that Ndfip1 is a critical mediator of DMT1 regulation in vivo, particularly under iron restricted conditions.

A tumor suppressor function for caspase-2.

Apoptosis is mediated by the caspase family of proteases that act as effectors of cell death by cleaving many cellular substrates. Caspase-2 is one of the most evolutionarily conserved caspases, yet its physiological function has remained enigmatic because caspase-2-deficient mice develop normally and are viable. We report here that the caspase-2(-/-) mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) show increased proliferation. When transformed with E1A and Ras oncogenes, caspase-2(-/-) MEFs grew significantly faster than caspase-2(+/+) MEFs and formed more aggressive and accelerated tumors in nude mice. To assess whether the loss of caspase-2 predisposes animals to tumor development, we used the mouse Emu-Myc lymphoma model. Our findings suggest that loss of even a single allele of caspase-2 resulted in accelerated tumorigenesis, and this was further enhanced in caspase-2(-/-) mice. The caspase-2(-/-) cells showed resistance to apoptosis induced by chemotherapeutic drugs and DNA damage. Furthermore, caspase-2(-/-) MEFs had a defective apoptotic response to cell-cycle checkpoint regulation and showed abnormal cycling following gamma-irradiation. These data show that loss of caspase-2 results in an increased ability of cells to acquire a transformed phenotype and become malignant, indicating that caspase-2 is a tumor suppressor protein.

Divalent metal transporter 1 (DMT1) regulation by Ndfip1 prevents metal toxicity in human neurons.

The regulation of metal ion transport within neurons is critical for normal brain function. Of particular importance is the regulation of redox metals such as iron (Fe), where excess levels can contribute to oxidative stress and protein aggregation, leading to neuronal death. The divalent metal transporter 1 (DMT1) plays a central role in the regulation of Fe as well as other metals; hence, failure of DMT1 regulation is linked to human brain pathology. However, it remains unclear how DMT1 is regulated in the brain. Here, we show that DMT1 is regulated by Ndfip1 (Nedd4 family-interacting protein 1), an adaptor protein that recruits E3 ligases to ubiquitinate target proteins. Using human neurons we show the Ndfip1 is upregulated and binds to DMT1 in response to Fe and cobalt (Co) exposure. This interaction results in the ubiquitination and degradation of DMT1, resulting in reduced metal entry. Induction of Ndfip1 expression protects neurons from metal toxicity, and removal of Ndfip1 by shRNAi results in hypersensitivity to metals. We identify Nedd4-2 as an E3 ligase recruited by Ndfip1 for the ubiquitination of DMT1 within human neurons. Comparison of brains from Ndfip1(-/-) with Ndfip1(+/+) mice exposed to Fe reveals that Ndfip1(-/-) brains accumulate Fe within neurons. Together, this evidence suggests a critical role for Ndfip1 in regulating metal transport in human neurons.

Tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) stimulation of cells with established dengue virus type 2 infection induces cell death that is accompanied by a reduced ability of TNF-alpha to activate nuclear factor kappaB and reduced sphingosine kinase-1 activity.

Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) has an antiviral role in some infections but in dengue virus (DENV) infection it is linked to severe pathology. We have previously shown that TNF-α stimulation cannot activate nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) to the fullest extent in DENV-2-infected cells. Here, we investigate further responses of DENV-2-infected cells to TNF-α, focussing particularly on cell death and pro-survival signals. TNF-α stimulation of productively DENV-2-infected monocyte-derived macrophages or HEK-293 cells induced caspase-3-mediated cell death. While TNF-α induced comparable degradation of the inhibitor of NF-κB alpha (IκB-α) and NF-κB activation in mock-infected and DENV-2-infected cells early in infection, later in infection and coinciding with TNF-α-induced cell death, TNF-α-stimulated IκB-α degradation and NF-κB activation was reduced. This was associated with reduced levels of sphingosine kinase-1 (SphK1) activity in DENV-2-infected cells; SphK1 being a known mediator of TNF-α-stimulated survival signals. Transfection experiments demonstrated inhibition of TNF-α-stimulated NF-κB activation by expression of DENV-2 capsid (CA) but enhancement by DENV-2 NS5 protein. DENV-2 CA alone, however, did not induce TNF-α-stimulated cell death or inhibit SphK1 activity. Thus, productively DENV-2-infected cells have compromised TNF-α-stimulated survival pathways and show enhanced susceptibility to TNF-α-stimulated cell death, suggesting a role for TNF-α in the killing of healthy productively DENV-2-infected cells. Additionally, the altered ability of TNF-α to activate NF-κB as infection progresses is reflected by the opposing actions of DENV-2 CA and NS5 proteins on TNF-α-stimulated NF-κB activation and could have important consequences for NF-κB-driven release of inflammatory cytokines.

The p53-caspase-2 axis in the cell cycle and DNA damage response.

Caspase-2 was discovered almost three decades ago. It was one of the first two mammalian homologs of CED-3, the other being interleukin 1ß-converting enzyme (ICE/caspase-1). Despite high similarity with CED-3 and its fly and mammalian counterparts (DRONC and caspase-9, respectively), the function of caspase-2 in apoptosis has remained enigmatic. A number of recent studies suggest that caspase-2 plays an important role in the regulation of p53 in response to cellular stress and DNA damage to prevent the proliferation and accumulation of damaged or aberrant cells. Here, we review these recent observations and their implications in caspase-2-mediated cellular death, senescence, and tumor suppression.

Phosphorylation by Aurora B kinase regulates caspase-2 activity and function.

Mitotic catastrophe (MC) is an important oncosuppressive mechanism that serves to eliminate cells that become polyploid or aneuploid due to aberrant mitosis. Previous studies have demonstrated that the activation and catalytic function of caspase-2 are key steps in MC to trigger apoptosis and/or cell cycle arrest of mitotically defective cells. However, the molecular mechanisms that regulate caspase-2 activation and its function are unclear. Here, we identify six new phosphorylation sites in caspase-2 and show that a key mitotic kinase, Aurora B kinase (AURKB), phosphorylates caspase-2 at the highly conserved residue S384. We demonstrate that phosphorylation at S384 blocks caspase-2 catalytic activity and apoptosis function in response to mitotic insults, without affecting caspase-2 dimerisation. Moreover, molecular modelling suggests that phosphorylation at S384 may affect substrate binding by caspase-2. We propose that caspase-2 S384 phosphorylation by AURKB is a key mechanism that controls caspase-2 activation during mitosis.

Regulation of the divalent metal ion transporter DMT1 and iron homeostasis by a ubiquitin-dependent mechanism involving Ndfips and WWP2.

Many ion channels and transporters are regulated by ubiquitination mediated by the Nedd4 family of HECT-type ubiquitin ligases (E3s). These E3s commonly interact with substrates via their WW domains that bind to specific motifs in target proteins. However, not all potential targets of these E3s contain WW-binding motifs. Therefore, accessory proteins may mediate the interaction between Nedd4 family members and their targets. Here we report that the divalent metal ion transporter DMT1, the primary nonheme iron transporter in mammals, is regulated by ubiquitination mediated by the Nedd4 family member WWP2. DMT1 interacts with 2 WW domain-interacting proteins, Ndfip1 and Ndfip2, previously proposed to have roles in protein trafficking. This promotes DMT1 ubiquitination and degradation by WWP2. Consistent with these observations, Ndfip1(-/-) mice show increased DMT1 activity and a concomitant increase in hepatic iron deposition, indicating an essential function of Ndfip1 in iron homeostasis. This novel mechanism of regulating iron homeostasis suggests that Ndfips and WWP2 may contribute to diseases involving aberrant iron transport.

The two cytochrome c species, DC3 and DC4, are not required for caspase activation and apoptosis in Drosophila cells.

In Drosophila, activation of the apical caspase DRONC requires the apoptotic protease-activating factor homologue, DARK. However, unlike caspase activation in mammals, DRONC activation is not accompanied by the release of cytochrome c from mitochondria. Drosophila encodes two cytochrome c proteins, Cytc-p (DC4) the predominantly expressed species, and Cytc-d (DC3), which is implicated in caspase activation during spermatogenesis. Here, we report that silencing expression of either or both DC3 and DC4 had no effect on apoptosis or activation of DRONC and DRICE in Drosophila cells. We find that loss of function mutations in dc3 and dc4, do not affect caspase activation during Drosophila development and that ectopic expression of DC3 or DC4 in Drosophila cells does not induce caspase activation. In cell-free studies, recombinant DC3 or DC4 failed to activate caspases in Drosophila cell lysates, but remarkably induced caspase activation in extracts from human cells. Overall, our results argue that DARK-mediated DRONC activation occurs independently of cytochrome c.

The role of cytochrome c in caspase activation in Drosophila melanogaster cells.

The release of cytochrome c from mitochondria is necessary for the formation of the Apaf-1 apoptosome and subsequent activation of caspase-9 in mammalian cells. However, the role of cytochrome c in caspase activation in Drosophila cells is not well understood. We demonstrate here that cytochrome c remains associated with mitochondria during apoptosis of Drosophila cells and that the initiator caspase DRONC and effector caspase DRICE are activated after various death stimuli without any significant release of cytochrome c in the cytosol. Ectopic expression of the proapoptotic Bcl-2 protein, DEBCL, also fails to show any cytochrome c release from mitochondria. A significant proportion of cellular DRONC and DRICE appears to localize near mitochondria, suggesting that an apoptosome may form in the vicinity of mitochondria in the absence of cytochrome c release. In vitro, DRONC was recruited to a >700-kD complex, similar to the mammalian apoptosome in cell extracts supplemented with cytochrome c and dATP. These results suggest that caspase activation in insects follows a more primitive mechanism that may be the precursor to the caspase activation pathways in mammals.

Analysing caspase activation and caspase activity in apoptotic cells.

Apoptotic cell death is characterised by various morphological and biochemical changes. Cysteine proteases of the caspase family play key roles in the execution of apoptosis and in the maturation of proinflammatory cytokines. During apoptosis signalling, caspase precursors undergo rapid proteolytic processing and activation. Activated caspases then function to cleave various vital cellular proteins, resulting in the death of the cell. Thus, the measurement of caspase activation and caspase activity provides a quick and convenient method to assess apoptosis. This chapter outlines various commonly used assays for measuring caspase activity and detecting active caspases in cultured cells or tissue extracts.

Transcriptome profiling of caspase-2 deficient EµMyc and Th-MYCN mouse tumors identifies distinct putative roles for caspase-2 in neuronal differentiation and immune signaling.

Caspase-2 is a highly conserved cysteine protease with roles in apoptosis and tumor suppression. Our recent findings have also demonstrated that the tumor suppression function of caspase-2 is context specific. In particular, while caspase-2 deficiency augments lymphoma development in the EµMyc mouse model, it leads to delayed neuroblastoma development in Th-MYCN mice. However, it is unclear how caspase-2 mediates these differential outcomes. Here we utilized RNA sequencing to define the transcriptomic changes caused by caspase-2 (Casp2-/-) deficiency in tumors from EµMyc and Th-MYCN mice. We describe key changes in both lymphoma and neuroblastoma-associated genes and identified differential expression of the EGF-like domain-containing gene, Megf6, in the two tumor types that may contribute to tumor outcome following loss of Casp2. We identified a panel of genes with altered expression in Th-MYCN/Casp2-/- tumors that are strongly associated with neuroblastoma outcome, with roles in melanogenesis, Wnt and Hippo pathway signaling, that also contribute to neuronal differentiation. In contrast, we found that key changes in gene expression in the EµMyc/Casp2-/- tumors, are associated with increased immune signaling and T-cell infiltration previously associated with more aggressive lymphoma progression. In addition, Rap1 signaling pathway was uniquely enriched in Casp2 deficient EµMyc tumors. Our findings suggest that Casp2 deficiency augments immune signaling pathways that may be in turn, enhance lymphomagenesis. Overall, our study has identified new genes and pathways that contribute to the caspase-2 tumor suppressor function and highlight distinct roles for caspase-2 in different tissues.

New insights into apoptosome structure and function.

The apoptosome is a platform that activates apical procaspases in response to intrinsic cell death signals. Biochemical and structural studies in the past two decades have extended our understanding of apoptosome composition and structure, while illuminating the requirements for initiator procaspase activation. A number of studies have now provided high-resolution structures for apoptosomes from C. elegans (CED-4), D. melanogaster (Dark), and H. sapiens (Apaf-1), which define critical protein interfaces, including intra and interdomain interactions. This work also reveals interactions of apoptosomes with their respective initiator caspases, CED-3, Dronc and procaspase-9. Structures of the human apoptosome have defined the requirements for cytochrome c binding, which triggers the conversion of inactive Apaf-1 molecules to an extended, assembly competent state. While recent data have provided a detailed understanding of apoptosome formation and procaspase activation, they also highlight important evolutionary differences with functional implications for caspase activation. Comparison of the CARD/CARD disks and apoptosomes formed by CED-4, Dark and Apaf-1. Cartoons of the active states of the CARD-CARD disks, illustrating the two CED-4 CARD tetrameric ring layers (CED4a and CED4b; top row) and the binding of 8 Dronc CARDs and between 3-4 pc-9 CARDs, to the Dark and Apaf-1 CARD disk respectively (middle and lower rows). Ribbon diagrams of the active CED-4, Dark and Apaf-1 apoptosomes are shown (right column).

Caspase-2 deficiency enhances whole-body carbohydrate utilisation and prevents high-fat diet-induced obesity.

Caspase-2 has been shown to be involved in metabolic homeostasis. Here, we show that caspase-2 deficiency alters basal energy metabolism by shifting the balance in fuel choice from fatty acid to carbohydrate usage. At 4 weeks of age, whole-body carbohydrate utilisation was increased in Casp2-/- mice and was maintained into adulthood. By 17 weeks of age, Casp2-/- mice had reduced white adipose mass, smaller white adipocytes decreased fasting blood glucose and plasma triglycerides but maintained normal insulin levels. When placed on a 12-week high-fat diet (HFD), Casp2-/- mice resisted the development of obesity, fatty liver, hyperinsulinemia and insulin resistance. In addition, HFD-fed Casp2-/- mice had reduced white adipocyte hypertrophy, apoptosis and expansion of both subcutaneous and visceral adipose depots. Increased expression of UCP1 and the maintenance of adiponectin levels in white adipose tissue of HFD-fed Casp2-/- mice indicated increased browning and adipocyte hyperplasia. We found that while the preference for whole-body carbohydrate utilisation was maintained, HFD-fed Casp2-/- mice were not impaired in their ability to switch to utilising fats as a fuel source. Our findings suggest that caspase-2 impacts basal energy metabolism by regulating adipocyte biology and fat expansion, most likely via a non-apoptotic function. Furthermore, we show that caspase-2 deficiency shifts the balance in fuel choice towards increased carbohydrate utilisation and propose that this is due to mild energy stress. As a consequence, Casp2-/- mice show an adaptive remodelling of adipose tissue that protects from HFD-induced obesity and improves glucose homeostasis while paradoxically increasing their susceptibility to oxidative stress induced damage and premature ageing.

Impaired haematopoietic stem cell differentiation and enhanced skewing towards myeloid progenitors in aged caspase-2-deficient mice.

The apoptotic cysteine protease caspase-2 has been shown to suppress tumourigenesis in mice and its reduced expression correlates with poor prognosis in some human malignancies. Caspase-2-deficient mice develop normally but show ageing-related traits and, when challenged by oncogenic stimuli or certain stress, show enhanced tumour development, often accompanied by extensive aneuploidy. As stem cells are susceptible to acquiring age-related functional defects because of their self-renewal and proliferative capacity, we examined whether loss of caspase-2 promotes such defects with age. Using young and aged Casp2-/- mice, we demonstrate that deficiency of caspase-2 results in enhanced aneuploidy and DNA damage in bone marrow (BM) cells with ageing. Furthermore, we demonstrate for the first time that caspase-2 loss results in significant increase in immunophenotypically defined short-term haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) and multipotent progenitors fractions in BM with a skewed differentiation towards myeloid progenitors with ageing. Caspase-2 deficiency leads to enhanced granulocyte macrophage and erythroid progenitors in aged mice. Colony-forming assays and long-term culture-initiating assay further recapitulated these results. Our results provide the first evidence of caspase-2 in regulating HSC and progenitor differentiation, as well as aneuploidy, in vivo.

Caspase-2 protocols.

Caspase-2 has been shown to function in apoptosis and in some non-apoptotic pathways, including tumor suppression and aging. Caspase-2 has some unique features and is the only caspase that constitutively localizes to the nucleus, although its nuclear function remains unknown. During apoptosis signaling, caspase-2 rapidly homodimerizes, which leads to its activation and proteolytic processing. The activation of caspase-2 can be measured by assessing its dimerization and/or cleavage of the caspase-2 zymogen and its substrates. This chapter outlines commonly used methods to purify recombinant caspase-2 and assess its activity and function in vitro and in cultured cells or tissue extracts.