The world's first wiki where authorship really matters (Nature Genetics, 2008). Due credit and reputation for authors. Imagine a global collaborative knowledge base for original thoughts. Search thousands of articles and collaborate with scientists around the globe.

wikigene or wiki gene protein drug chemical gene disease author authorship tracking collaborative publishing evolutionary knowledge reputation system wiki2.0 global collaboration genes proteins drugs chemicals diseases compound
Hoffmann, R. A wiki for the life sciences where authorship matters. Nature Genetics (2008)
 
 
 
 
 

MT-21 is a synthetic apoptosis inducer that directly induces cytochrome c release from mitochondria.

We reported previously that a synthetic compound, MT-21, induced apoptosis by activating c-Jun-NH2-terminal kinase via the Krs/ MST protein, which is activated by caspase-3 cleavage dependent on reactive oxygen species production. Here we examine the activation mechanism of caspase-3, an important cysteine aspartic protease, during MT-21-induced apoptosis. We found that MT-21 activated caspase-3 via caspase-9, but not via caspase-8. In addition, MT-21 induced the release of cytochrome c from the mitochondria that is necessary to activate caspase-9, and this release occurred before a change in membrane potential. This initiation process of MT-21-induced apoptosis was suppressed by overexpression of Bcl-2, which is known to prevent cells from undergoing apoptosis in response to a variety of stimuli. Moreover, when we treated mitochondria isolated from the cells with MT-21, the direct release of cytochrome c from the mitochondria was observed, whereas this effect was not observed in the mitochondria isolated from cells that overexpressed Bcl-2. Other apoptosis-inducing agents known to induce apoptosis via cytochrome c release from the mitochondria failed to release cytochrome c directly from isolated mitochondria. These findings indicate that MT-21 is a possible candidate antitumor agent that is able to induce apoptosis via the direct release of cytochrome c from the mitochondria.[1]

References

 
WikiGenes - Universities