An association of increased apoptosis with overexpression of the proapoptotic protein Bax-alpha has been reported in the left ventricle of adult spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). Both alterations were corrected in SHR that received long-term treatment with the AT1 antagonist losartan. To gain insight into the regulation of cardiac Bax-alpha protein in genetic hypertension, we investigated ...

The chimaeric protein interleukin-2 (IL-2)-Bax was designed to target and kill specific cell populations expressing the IL-2 receptor. However, it is not well understood how IL-2-Bax causes target cells to die. In the present study, we investigated the pathway of apoptosis evoked by IL-2-Bax and the possible involvement of endogenous Bax in this process. We report here that, upon internalizatio...

Bax promotes cell death by permeabilizing mitochondrial outer membranes by an unresolved mechanism. However, in cells lacking the gene c-myc, membrane permeabilization by Bax is blocked by changes in the mitochondria that prevent Bax oligomerization. Drug-treated c-myc null cells and cells expressing Myc were used to map the topology of Bax in membranes prior to and after mitochondrial permeabi...

background and objectives: giant cell tumor of bone (gct) is often regarded as a benign tumor, but its clinical course is unpredictable, has a high rate of recurrence, and even can metastases and transform to a malignant tumor. histological features of the tumor often could not predict its future biologic behavior, so it is just called ''giant cell tumor'' without indicating malignancy or benig...

Cell apoptosis induced by UV irradiation is a highly complex process in which different molecular signaling pathways are involved. p53 up-regulated modulator of apoptosis (PUMA) has been proposed as an important regulator in UV irradiation-induced apoptosis. However, the molecular mechanism through which PUMA regulates apoptosis, especially how PUMA activates Bcl-2-associated X protein (Bax) in...

Prion protein (PrP) inhibits the activation of proapoptotic Bax in primary human neurons and MCF-7 cells. Because neuronal apoptosis occurs in human prion diseases, here we examine the anti-Bax function of familial PrP mutants. All Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and fatal familial insomnia-associated prion protein mutations partially or completely lose the anti-Bax function in human neurons and, exc...

In stressed cells, apoptosis ensues when Bcl-2 family members Bax or Bak oligomerize and permeabilize the mitochondrial outer membrane. Certain BH3-only relatives can directly activate them to mediate this pivotal, poorly understood step. To clarify the conformational changes that induce Bax oligomerization, we determined crystal structures of BaxΔC21 treated with detergents and BH3 peptides. T...

Bax, a proapoptotic member of the Bcl-2 family, localizes largely in the cytoplasm but translocates to mitochondria and undergoes oligomerization to induce the release of apoptogenic factors in response to apoptotic stimuli. However, the molecular mechanism of Bax activation is not fully understood. We show here the role of BimL in Bax activation during UV irradiation-induced apoptosis. In this...

Previous studies have shown that human papillomavirus (HPV) 16 E6 inhibits apoptosis induced during terminal differentiation of primary human keratinocytes (PHKs) triggered by serum and calcium. E6 inhibition of apoptosis was accompanied with prolonged expression of Bcl-2 and reduced elevation of Bax levels. In the present study, the effect of E6 on Bax mRNA expression and protein stability was...

Apoptosis is a potent immune barrier against viral infection, and many viruses, including poxviruses, encode proteins to overcome this defense. Interestingly, the avipoxviruses, which include fowlpox and canarypox virus, are the only poxviruses known to encode proteins with obvious Bcl-2 sequence homology. We previously characterized the fowlpox virus protein FPV039 as a Bcl-2-like antiapoptoti...