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Biomedical subjects

U T Brunk

Publications and source records attributed to U T Brunk.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2007

Autophagy, organelles and ageing.

As a result of insufficient digestion of oxidatively damaged macromolecules and organelles by autophagy and other degradative systems, long-lived postmitotic cells, such as cardiac myocytes, neurons and retinal pigment epithelial cells, progressively accumulate biological 'garbage' ('waste' materials). The latter include lipofuscin (a non-degradable intralysosomal polymeric substance), defective mitochondria and other organelles, and aberrant proteins, often forming aggregates (aggresomes). An interaction between senescent lipofuscin-loaded lysosomes and mitochondria seems to play a pivotal role in the progress of cellular ageing. Lipofuscin deposition hampers autophagic mitochondrial turnover, promoting the accumulation of senescent mitochondria, which are deficient in ATP production but produce increased amounts of reactive oxygen species. Increased oxidative stress, in turn, further enhances damage to both mitochondria and lysosomes, thus diminishing adaptability, triggering mitochondrial and lysosomal pro-apoptotic pathways, and culminating in cell death.

Aging↗
PubMed2006

Lysosomal labilization.

The lysosomal compartment is the place for cellular degradation of endocytosed and autophagocytosed material and a center for normal turnover of organelles as well as most long-lived proteins. Lysosomes were long considered stable structures that broke and released their many hydrolytic enzymes only following necrotic cell death. It is now realized that lysosomes instead are quite vulnerable, although in a heterogeneous way. Their exposure to a number of events, such as oxidative stress, lysosomotropic detergents and aldhydes, as well as overexpression of the p53 protein, causes time-and-dose-dependent lysosomal rupture that is followed by apoptosis or necrosis. Partial lysosomal rupture has often been found to be an early upstream event in apoptosis, while necrosis results from fulminant lysosomal rupture. Consequently, factors influencing the stability of lysosomes, for instance their content of labile and redox-active iron, seem to be essential for the survival of cells.

Animals↗
PubMed2002

Vitamin E analogs: a new class of multiple action agents with anti-neoplastic and anti-atherogenic activity.

The incidence of cancer and atherosclerosis, two most common causes of death in developed countries, has been stagnating or, even, increasing. Drugs effective against such conditions are needed and, in this regard, the potential anti-atherosclerotic activity of vitamin E analogs has been studied extensively. Surprisingly, recent results indicate that these agents may also exert anti-neoplastic effects. Here we review the evidence that particular analogs of vitamin E may act as both antiatherogenic and anti-cancer agents, and discuss the possible molecular bases for these actions.

Animals↗
PubMed2002

Bismuth-induced lysosomal rupture in J774 cells.

Bismuth-containing drugs have several applications, one being their use against Helicobacter pylori-associated peptic ulcers, and bismuth has been discovered in macrophages at the base and margins of peptic ulcers. In the present study, the autometallographic technique for the histochemical demonstration of bismuth was applied, showing that bismuth citrate-exposed J774 cells accumulate the metal in their lysosomes. Such accumulations resulted in lysosomal rupture - assayed by the acridine orange uptake technique and flow cytofluorometry - and ensuing apoptotic cell death.

Acridine Orange↗
PubMed2001

Delayed oxidant-induced cell death involves activation of phospholipase A2.

Short-term (1 h) exposure of cells to a low steady-state concentration of H(2)O(2) causes no immediate cell death but apoptosis occurs several hours later. This delayed cell death may arise from activation of phospholipases, in particular phospholipase A2 (PLA2), which may destabilize lysosomal and mitochondrial membranes. Indeed, the secretory PLA2 (sPLA2) inhibitor 4-bromophenacyl bromide diminishes both delayed lysosomal rupture and apoptosis. Furthermore, sPLA2 activation by mellitin, or direct micro-injection of sPLA2, causes lysosomal rupture and apoptosis. Finally, B-cell leukemia/lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2) over-expression prevents oxidant-induced activation of PLA2, delayed lysosomal destabilization and apoptosis. This supports a causal association between PLA2 activation and delayed oxidant-induced cell death and suggests that Bcl-2 may suppress apoptosis by preventing PLA2 activation.

Animals↗
PubMed2001

Bcl-2 phosphorylation is required for inhibition of oxidative stress-induced lysosomal leak and ensuing apoptosis.

B-cell leukemia/lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2) blocks oxidant-induced apoptosis at least partly by stabilizing lysosomes. Here we report that phosphorylation of Bcl-2 may be required for these protective effects. J774 cells overexpressing wild-type Bcl-2 resist oxidant-induced lysosomal leak as well as apoptosis, and this protection is amplified by pretreatment with phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (which promotes protein kinase C (PKC)-dependent phosphorylation of Bcl-2). In contrast, cells overexpressing the Bcl-2 mutant S70A (which cannot be phosphorylated) are not protected in either circumstance. Transfection with Bcl-2(S70E), a constitutively active Bcl-2 mutant which does not require phosphorylation, is protective independent of PKC activation. In contrast, C(2)-ceramide, a putative protein phosphatase 2A activator, abolishes the protective effects of wild-type Bcl-2 overexpression but does not diminish protection afforded by Bcl-2(S70E). Additional results suggest that, perhaps as a consequence of lysosomal stabilization, Bcl-2 may prevent activation of phospholipase A2, an event potentially important in the ultimate initiation of apoptosis.

Animals↗
PubMed2001

Sphingosine-induced apoptosis is dependent on lysosomal proteases.

We propose a new mechanism for sphingosine-induced apoptosis, involving relocation of lysosomal hydrolases to the cytosol. Owing to its lysosomotropic properties, sphingosine, which is also a detergent, especially when protonated, accumulates by proton trapping within the acidic vacuolar apparatus, where most of its action as a detergent would be exerted. When sphingosine was added in low-to-moderate concentrations to Jurkat and J774 cells, partial lysosomal rupture occurred dose-dependently, starting within a few minutes. This phenomenon preceded caspase activation, as well as changes of mitochondrial membrane potential. High sphingosine doses rapidly caused extensive lysosomal rupture and ensuing necrosis, without antecedent apoptosis or caspase activation. The sphingosine effect was prevented by pre-treatment with another, non-toxic, lysosomotropic base, ammonium chloride, at 10 mM. The lysosomal protease inhibitors, pepstatin A and epoxysuccinyl-L-leucylamido-3-methyl-butane ethyl ester ('E-64d'), inhibited markedly sphingosine-induced caspase activity to almost the same degree as the general caspase inhibitor benzyloxycarbonyl-Val-Ala-DL-Asp-fluoromethylketone ('Z-VAD-FMK'), although they did not by themselves inhibit caspases. We conclude that cathepsin D and one or more cysteine proteases, such as cathepsins B or L, are important mediators of sphingosine-induced apoptosis, working upstream of the caspase cascade and mitochondrial membrane-potential changes.

Animals↗
PubMed2001

Apoptosis induced by exposure to a low steady-state concentration of H2O2 is a consequence of lysosomal rupture.

We have re-examined the lysosomal hypothesis of oxidative-stress-induced apoptosis using a new technique for exposing cells in culture to a low steady-state concentration of H(2)O(2). This steady-state technique mimics the situation in vivo better than the bolus-administration method. A key aspect of H(2)O(2)-induced apoptosis is that the apoptosis is evident only after several hours, although cells may become committed within a few minutes of exposure to this particular reactive oxygen species. In the present work, we were able to show, for the first time, several correlative links between the triggering effect of H(2)O(2) and the later onset of apoptosis: (i) a short (15 min) exposure to H(2)O(2) caused almost immediate, albeit limited, lysosomal rupture; (ii) early lysosomal damage, and later apoptosis, showed a similar dose-related response to H(2)O(2); (iii) both events were inhibited by pre-treatment with iron chelators, including desferrioxamine. This compound is known to be taken up by endocytosis only and thus to become localized in the lysosomal compartment. After exposure to oxidative stress, when cells were again in standard culture conditions, a time-dependent continuous increase in lysosomal rupture was observed, resulting in a considerably lowered number of intact lysosomes in apoptotic cells, whereas non-apoptotic cells from the same batch of oxidative-stress-exposed cells showed mainly intact lysosomes. Taken together, our results reinforce earlier findings and strongly suggest that lysosomal rupture is an early upstream initiating event, and a consequence of intralysosomal iron-catalysed oxidative processes, when apoptosis is induced by oxidative stress.

Apoptosis↗
PubMed2001

Lipofuscin-formation in cultured retinal pigment epithelial cells is related to their melanin content.

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of blindness in the developed world, is accompanied by degeneration of the retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells. There is an inverse correlation between the melanin content of the eye and the incidence of AMD. Lipofuscin (LF)-accumulation in RPE cells accompanies the process of aging, and may also be related to AMD. This study was designed to evaluate the effect of melanin/melanosomes on the rate of LF formation in cultured rabbit and bovine RPE cells subjected to oxidative stress (40% normobaric O(2)) and daily supplementation with photoreceptor outer segments for 4 weeks. The LF content was measured at 0, 2, and 4 weeks in RPE cells from pigmented and albino rabbits, as well as in pigment-rich and pigment-poor bovine cells. Albino rabbit and pigment-poor bovine cells accumulated significantly higher amounts of LF than pigmented rabbit cells and pigment-rich bovine RPE cells after both 2 and 4 weeks of exposure. Autometallography of melanin-containing cells, without previous exposure to ammonium sulfide, showed a positive outcome, indicating either the occurrence of pre-existing iron-sulphur clusters or an extremely high intrinsic reducing capacity. These results suggest that melanin acts as an efficient antioxidant, perhaps by interacting with transition metals.

Animals↗
PubMed2001

Novel cellular defenses against iron and oxidation: ferritin and autophagocytosis preserve lysosomal stability in airway epithelium.

Adsorbed to a variety of particles, iron may be carried to the lungs by inhalation thereby contributing to a number of inflammatory lung disorders. Redox-active iron is a potent catalyst of oxidative processes, but intracellularly it is bound primarily to ferritin in a non-reactive form and probably is catalytically active largely within the lysosomal compartment. Damage to the membranes of these organelles causes the release to the cytosol of a host of powerful hydrolytic enzymes, inducing apoptotic or necrotic cell death. The results of this study, using cultured BEAS-2B cells, which are adenovirus transformed human bronchial epithelial cells, and A549 cells, which have characteristics similar to type II alveolar epithelial cells, suggest that the varying abilities of different types of lung cells to resist oxidative stress may be due to differences in intralysosomal iron chelation. Cellular ferritin and iron were assayed by ELISA and atomic absorption, while plasma and lysosomal membrane stability were evaluated by the acridine orange uptake and trypan blue dye exclusion tests, respectively. Normally, and also after exposure to an iron complex, A549 cells contained significantly more ferritin (2.26 +/- 0.60 versus 0.63 +/- 0.33 ng/microg protein, P <0.001) and less iron (0.96 +/- 0.14 versus 1.48 +/- 0.21 ng/microg protein, P <0.05) than did BEAS-2B cells. Probably as a consequence, iron-exposed A549 cells displayed more stable lysosomes (P <0.05) and better survival (P <0.05) following oxidative stress. Following starvation-induced autophagocytosis, which also enhances resistance to oxidant stress, the A549 cells showed a significant reduction in ferritin, and the BEAS-2B cells did not. These results suggest that intralysosomal ferritin enhances lysosomal stability by iron-chelation, preventing Fenton-type chemistry. This notion was further supported by the finding that endocytosis of apoferritin, added to the medium, stabilized lysosomes (P <0.001 versus P <0.01) and increased survival (P <0.01 versus P <0.05) of iron-loaded A549 and BEAS-2B cells. Assuming that primary cell lines of the alveolar and bronchial epithelium behave in a similar manner as these respiratory cell lines, intrabronchial instillation of apoferritin-containing liposomes may in the future be a treatment for iron-dependent airway inflammatory processes.

Cell Membrane↗
PubMed2001

Vitamin E analogues as inducers of apoptosis: implications for their potential antineoplastic role.

Recent evidence suggests that vitamin E and its analogues, which have been used for many years as antioxidants, may not only protect cells from free radical damage but also induce apoptotic cell death in various cell types. While alpha-tocopherol (alpha-TOH) is mainly known as an anti-apoptotic agent, its redox-silent analogues either have no influence on cell survival (alpha-tocopheryl acetate, alpha-TOA), or induce apoptosis (alpha-tocopheryl succinate, alpha-TOS). Although precise mechanisms of apoptosis induction by alpha-TOS remain to be elucidated, there is evidence that this process involves both the antiproliferative and membrane destabilising activities of the agent. Alpha-TOS has been shown to induce apoptosis in malignant cell lines but not, in general, in normal cells, and to inhibit tumorigenesis in vivo. These features suggest that this semi-synthetic analogue of vitamin E could be a promising antineoplastic agent.

Adenocarcinoma↗
PubMed2001

Alpha-lipoic acid and alpha-lipoamide prevent oxidant-induced lysosomal rupture and apoptosis.

Alpha-lipoic acid (LA) and its corresponding derivative, alpha-lipoamide (LM), have been described as antioxidants, but the mechanisms of their putative antioxidant effects remain largely uncharacterised. The vicinal thiols present in the reduced forms of these compounds suggest that they might possess metal chelating properties. We have shown previously that cell death caused by oxidants may be initiated by lysosomal rupture and that this latter event may involve intralysosomal iron which catalyzes Fenton-type chemistry and resultant peroxidative damage to lysosomal membranes. Here, using cultured J774 cells as a model, we show that both LA and LM stabilize lysosomes against oxidative stress, probably by chelating intralysosomal iron and, consequently, preventing intralysosomal Fenton reactions. In preventing oxidant-mediated apoptosis, LM is significantly more effective than LA, as would be expected from their differing capacities to enter cells and concentrate within the acidic lysosomal compartment. As previously reported, the powerful iron-chelator, desferrioxamine (Des) (which also locates within the lysosomal compartment), also provides protection against oxidant-mediated cell death. Interestingly, although Des enhances the partial protection afforded by LA, it confers no additional protection when added with LM. Therefore, the antioxidant actions of LA and LM may arise from intralysosomal iron chelation, with LM being more effective in this regard.

Animals↗
PubMed2000

Protection against oxidant-mediated lysosomal rupture: a new anti-apoptotic activity of Bcl-2?

Bcl-2 antagonizes apoptosis through mechanisms which are not completely understood. We have proposed that apoptosis is initiated by minor lysosomal destabilization followed some time later by secondary massive lysosomal rupture. In J774 cells over-expressing Bcl-2, early oxidant-induced lysosomal destabilization is unaffected but secondary lysosomal rupture and apoptosis are suppressed, despite the fact that wild-type and Bcl-2 over-expressing cells degrade hydrogen peroxide at similar rates. It may be that Bcl-2 directly blocks the effects of released lysosomal enzymes and/or prevents downstream activation of unknown cytosolic pro-enzymes by released lysosomal hydrolases, suggesting a new and heretofore unknown activity of Bcl-2.

Acridine Orange↗
PubMed2000

Induction of cell death by the lysosomotropic detergent MSDH.

Controlled lysosomal rupture was initiated in lysosome-rich, macrophage-like cells by the synthetic lysosomotropic detergent, O-methyl-serine dodecylamide hydrochloride (MSDH). When MSDH was applied at low concentrations, resulting in partial lysosomal rupture, activation of pro-caspase-3-like proteases and apoptosis followed after some hours. Early during apoptosis, but clearly secondary to lysosomal destabilization, the mitochondrial transmembrane potential declined. At high concentrations, MSDH caused extensive lysosomal rupture and necrosis. It is suggested that lysosomal proteases, if released to the cytosol, may cause apoptosis directly by pro-caspase activation and/or indirectly by mitochondrial attack with ensuing discharge of pro-apoptotic factors.

Amides↗
PubMed2000

Lysosomal destabilization during macrophage damage induced by cholesterol oxidation products.

We have previously shown that oxidized low-density lipoprotein (LDL) induces damage to the macrophage lysosomal membranes, with ensuing leakage of lysosomal contents and macrophage cell death. Cholesterol oxidation products (ChOx) have been reported to be the major cytotoxic components of oxidized LDL/LDL- and also to stimulate cholesterol accumulation in vascular cells. In the present study, we characterized the initial events during macrophage damage induced by cholesterol oxidation products (ChOx). Within 24 h of exposure, ChOx caused lysosomal destabilization, release to the cytosol of the lysosomal marker-enzyme cathepsin D, apoptosis, and postapoptotic necrosis. Enhanced autophagocytosis and chromatin margination was found 12 h after the exposure to ChOx, whereas apoptosis and postapoptotic necrosis was pronounced 24 and 48 h after the exposure. Some lysosomal vacuoles were then filled with degraded cellular organelles, indicating phagocytosis of apoptotic bodies by surviving cells. Because caspase-3 activation was detected in the ChOx-exposed cells, lysosomal destabilization may associate with the leakage of lysosomal enzymes, and activation of the caspase cascade. MnSOD mRNA levels were markedly increased after 24 h of exposure to ChOx, suggesting associated induction of mitochondrial protection repair or turnover. We conclude that ChOx-induced damage to lysosomes and mitochondria are sequelae to the cascade of oxysterol cytotoxic events. The early disruption of lysosomes induced by ChOx, with resultant autophagocytosis may be a critical event in apoptosis and/or necrosis of macrophages/foam cells during the development of atherosclerotic lesions.

Animals↗
PubMed1999

alpha-tocopheryl succinate-induced apoptosis in Jurkat T cells involves caspase-3 activation, and both lysosomal and mitochondrial destabilisation.

Alpha-Tocopheryl succinate (alpha-TOS), but not a-tocopherol, triggered apoptosis in Jurkat T cells. Apoptosis was induced by alpha-TOS in a time- and concentration-dependent mode, and signs of apoptosis were visible at concentrations of alpha-TOS as low as 30 microM, and within 3-5 h after addition of the ester. Employing a specific fluorogenic substrate, caspase-3 was found to be activated rapidly in response to alpha-TOS at 50 microM. We also found that Jurkat T cells challenged with alpha-TOS, when exposed to the lysosomotropic weak base acridine orange, showed decreased lysosomal uptake of the dye. This is suggestive of the involvement of lysosomal destabilisation in apoptosis of the cells. Apoptosis of Jurkat T cells induced with alpha-TOS also involved a drop in the mitochondrial membrane potential, although this phenomenon occurred after the initiation of lysosomal rupture. All apoptotic features observed with alpha-TOS were very similar to those found when cross-linking of the Fas receptor triggered apoptosis. These findings are consistent with the recent idea that vitamin E can contribute to elimination of malignant cells by the induction of apoptosis, and can be of (patho)physiological significance.

Apoptosis↗