Earlier this year, we provided a definitive report indicating that there exist at least 3 murine survivin mRNA variants, each encoding a distinct protein.1 We demonstrated, with appropriate controls, that both survivin140 and survivin121 are able to inhibit caspase-3 activity, while survivin40 does not. In contrast to the claims of Altieri’s group in their letter, several reports support our fi...

Proteasomes are the primary sites for protein degradation in mammalian cells. Each proteasome particle contains two chymotrypsin-like, two trypsin-like, and two caspase-like proteolytic sites. Previous studies suggest a complex network of allosteric interactions between these catalytic and multiple regulatory sites. We used positional scanning combinatorial substrate libraries to determine the ...

Introduction: Evidence suggests that neuronal apoptosis in neurodegenerative diseases is correlated with inflammatory reactions. The beneficial or detrimental role of apoptosis in neuroinflammation is unclear. Elucidating this question may be helpful in management of neurodegenerative diseases. Since TNF-α is able to induce apoptosis as well as increased viability of the cells by activation ...

Natural products isolated from plant sources are well known for their pharmacological potential in diversity of disease treatments such as inflammatory or cancer conditions. Mango (Mangifera indica L.) and Juglans regia are thought to be rich of functional phytochemicals. To elucidate the anticancer activity of Juglans regia (JR) and Mangifera indica L (MI) aqueous extract were investigated on ...

Natural products isolated from plant sources are well known for their pharmacological potential in diversity of disease treatments such as inflammatory or cancer conditions. Mango (Mangifera indica L.) and Juglans regia are thought to be rich of functional phytochemicals. To elucidate the anticancer activity of Juglans regia (JR) and Mangifera indica L (MI) aqueous extract were investigated on ...

A hallmark of skeletal muscle atrophy is increased activities of several proteolytic systems, including caspase-3. We have previously shown that conditions involving insulin deficiency or insulin resistance increase both overall protein degradation and caspase-3-mediated actin cleavage. In the present experiments, we examined how insulin regulates caspase-3 activity in L6 myotubes. Reducing the...

BACKGROUND After superficial mucosal injury, the disturbed gastric epithelial continuity is restored by cellular migration. Caspase-3 is an enzyme responsible for the execution of stress-induced apoptosis. Interestingly, heat shock proteins (Hsp) including Hsp60 are capable of modulating caspase-3 activity. Interestingly, we have demonstrated that heat shock preconditioning upregulates Hsp synt...