Myoblast migration is prevented by a calpain-dependent accumulation of MARCKS

Calpains, also called calcium activated neutral cysteine proteases are presently known to play pivotal roles in physiological and biological phenomena such as signal transduction, cell spreading and motility, apoptosis, regulation of cell cycle and regulation of muscle cell differentiation. Concerning this last point, calpains have been shown to play a crucial role during the earlier myogenesis. In this study we have analyzed the involvement of calpains during an important step of myogenesis: myoblast migration. Our findings show that myoblast migration was drastically reduced when the expression of micro- and m-calpain was decreased. We have also observed that MARCKS (myristoylated alanine rich C kinase substrate), a protein localized at focal adhesion sites, was significantly accumulated when the expression levels of calpains were decreased. Also, using phorbol myristate acetate, (an activator of PKC) and plasmids carrying the full-length cDNA of MARCKS or a cDNA fragment lacking the phosphorylation site domain, we demonstrated that normal myoblast migration is dependent on MARCKS phosphorylation and localization.     

Death effector activation in the subventricular zone subsequent to perinatal hypoxia/ischemia

Perinatal hypoxia/ischemia (H/I) is the leading cause of neurological injury resulting from birth complications and pre-maturity. Our studies have demonstrated that this injury depletes the subventricular zone (SVZ) of progenitors. In this study, we sought to reveal which cell death pathways are activated within these progenitors after H/I. We found that calpain activity is detected as early as 4 h of reperfusion and is sustained for 48 h, while caspase 3 activation does not occur until 8 h and peaks at 24 h post-insult. Activated calpains and caspase 3 co-localized within precursors situated in the lateral aspects of the SVZ (which coincides with progenitor cell death), whereas neither enzyme was activated in the medial SVZ (which harbors the neural stem cells that are resilient to this insult). These studies reveal targets for neuroprotective agents to protect precursors from cell death towards the goal of restoring normal brain development after H/I.     

Role of calpains in diabetes mellitus: A mini review

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is characterized by defects in haepatic glucose production, insulin action and insulin secretion, which can also lead to a variety of secondary disorders. The disease can lead to death without treatment and it has been predicted that T2DM will affect 215 million people world-wide by 2010. T2DM is a multifactorial condition whose precise genetic causes and biochemical defects have not been fully elucidated but at both levels, calpains appear to play a role. Positional cloning studies mapped T2DM susceptibility to CAPN10, the gene encoding the intracellular cysteine protease, calpain 10. Further studies have shown a number of non-coding polymorphisms in CAPN10 to be functionally associated with T2DM whilst the identification of coding polymorphisms, suggested that mutant calpain 10 proteins may also contribute to the disease. The presence of both calpain 10 and its mRNA have been demonstrated in tissues from several mammalian species whilst calpain 10 appears to be associated with pathways involved in glucose metabolism, insulin secretion and insulin action. It appears that other calpains may also participate in these pathways and here we present an overview of recent studies on calpains and their putative role in T2DM. (Mol Cell Biochem 261: 161–167, 2004)     

Characterization of the calcium-dependent proteolytic system in a mouse muscle cell line

Many studies have demonstrated that the calcium-dependent proteolytic system (calpains and calpastatin) is involved in myoblast differentiation. It is also known that myogenic differentiation can be studied in vitro. In the present experiments, using a mouse muscle cell line (C₂C₁₂) we have analyzed both the sequences of appearance and the expression profiles of calpains 1, 2, 3 and calpastatin during the course of myoblast differentiation. Our results mainly show that the expression of ubiquitous calpains (calpain 1 and 2) and muscle-specific calpain (calpain 3) at the mRNAs level as well as at the protein level do not change significantly all along this biological process. In the same time, the specific inhibitor of ubiquitous calpains, calpastatin, presents a stable expression at mRNAs level as well as protein level, all along myoblast to myotube transition. A comparison with other myogenic cells is presented.     

Specificity of calcium-activated neutral proteinase (CANP) inhibitors for human μCANP and mCANP

We investigated the relative inhibition of purified human CANP and mCANP by five cysteine proteinase inhibitors including N-acetyl-Leu-Leu-nor-leucinal (C-I) and N-acetyl-Leu-Leu-methioninal (C-II), calpeptin, E64, and leupeptin. Based on IC₅₀ measurements, calpeptin and C-I were stronger inhibitors by one to two orders of magnitude than C-II, leupeptin or E64. None of the five inhibitors, however, exhibited greater specificity for human CANP or mCANP. These results indicate that, although the inhibition of a given cellular event by these compounds may suggest CANP involvement, effects on CANP cannot be discriminated from those on mCANP.     

Role of calpains in diabetes mellitus-induced cataractogenesis: A mini review

Premature visual impairment due to lens opacification is a debilitating characteristic of untreated diabetes. Lens opacification is primarily due to the insolubilization of crystallins, proteins essential for lens optical properties, and recent studies have suggested that a major cause of this insolubilization may be the unregulated proteolysis of crystallins by calpains. These are intracellular cysteine proteases whose activation requires the presence of calcium (Ca²⁺) and elevated levels of lens Ca²⁺ is a condition associated with both diabetic cataractogenesis and other forms of the disorder. A number of calpains have been identified in the lens, including calpain 2, calpain 10 and two isozymes of calpain 3:Lp82 and Lp85. The use of animal hereditary cataract models have suggested that calpain 2 and/or Lp82 may be the major calpains involved in murine cataractogenesis with contributions from calpain 10 and Lp85. However, calpain 2 appears to be the major calpain involved in murine diabetic cataractogenesis and the strongest candidate of the calpains for a role in human types of cataractogenesis. Here, we present an overview of recent evidence on which these observations are based with an emphasis on the ability of calpains to proteolyse lens crystallins and calpain structural features, which appear to be involved in the Ca²⁺-mediated activation of these enzymes. (Mol Cell Biochem 261: 151–159, 2004)     

用多抗原肽(MAP)免疫制备单克隆抗体的研究

目前制备单克隆抗体杂交瘤细胞株的传统方法是用纯度很高的天然蛋白作为抗原来免疫动物。此方法虽然成功率很高,但提取和纯化作为抗原用的高纯蛋白确非常困难,在某些情况下甚至是不可能的。为了克服以上不足,近年来发展起用合成多肽作为抗原制备单克隆抗体^[1,2]。这个技术的难点是用合成多肽作为抗原来免疫动物不易获得与天然蛋白呈特异反应的抗体^[3-5]。近年来国外科学家发明了一种称为“多抗原肽”(Multiple antigenic peptide, MAP)物质用作抗原^[6,7]。它是一个由赖氨酸核和多个由同一多肽分子构成的具有免疫原性的大分子。这个大分子的多肽部分组成丁造成动物免疫应答的多个相同抗原决定簇．而赖氨酸核部分只起连接多肽的作用,它本身没有免疫原性。实验证明多抗原肽和佐剂配合使用会引起动物强烈的免疫应答。本文介绍的是从Calpain [EC 3.4.22.17] 28kDa 小亚基上选取的一段氪基酸序列 AAQYNPEPPP-PRTH(氨基酸从73到86)与赖氨酸核偶联形成多抗原肽来制备单克隆抗体。Calpain的水解蛋白活性依附于钙离子浓度。它有两种异构酶：在μmol/L钙离子浓度下被激活的称为“μ-calpain．而在mmol/L钙离子浓度下被激活的称为m-calpain。这两种异构酶都由两个亚基组成。其大亚基的分子量为80kDa,它包括酶的活性区和与钙离子结合区。两种酶的大亚基氨基酸序列各不相同。其小亚基的分子量为28 kDa,这两种酶具有完全相同的小亚基氨基酸序列。有关Calpain的详细资料可参阅文献[8]。     

Calcium Ionophore-Induced Degradation of Neurofilament and Cell Death in MSN Neuroblastoma Cells

Extensive necrotic death of MSN neuroblastoma cells could be induced after incubation with the calcium ionophore, A23187. The reaction was concentration-dependent and time course-dependent. Levels of the 66 kd/-internexin neurofilament protein (NF-66) and the cognate heat shock protein 70 (Hsc 70) decreased during the Ca²⁺-activated cell death. Addition of the calcium chelator, ethylene glycol-bis(-aminoethyl ether) N,N,N,N-tetraacetic acid (EGTA) restored the normal level of NF-66 and partially that of the Hsc 70. Use of either calpain I or calpain II inhibitor could alleviate the reduction of 66 kd protein during the ionophore treatment whereas only calpain I inhibitor treatment was effective in restoring the normal level of the Hsc 70. Neither of these calpain inhibitors could block the ionophore triggered cell death. EQTA was toxic to cells in a wide range of concentration suggesting a calcium-independent activation of cell death mechanism.     

Dismantling the autophagic arsenal when it is time to die

Under stress conditions cells activate different response pathways which result in cell survival or apoptosis depending on: (1) the nature of the insults, (2) the type, if acute or chronic stress, and (3) how long the stress persists. Generally, autophagy is induced early to sustain cell survival and inhibit cell death. However, adverse conditions are able to overcome autophagy to promote cell death. Increasing evidence suggests that the inhibition of autophagy by the apoptotic machinery has been proposed as one of the crucial events responsible for the irreversible switch from survival to death. The mechanism seems to be related to the selective apoptotic protease-mediated degradation of key autophagic proteins. We recently found that AMBRA1, an important regulator of the autophagic process mediating the initial steps of autophagosome formation, is also irreversibly degraded by the combined activity of caspases and calpains. This phenomenon is not merely a consequence of apoptosis execution but represents a key step required to efficiently promote the autophagic vs apoptosis switch.