Publications by authors named "Mark E Smulson"

Caspase-activated DNase (CAD) is the most favorable candidate for chromatin degradation during apoptosis. Ca(2+)-dependent endonucleases are equally important in internucleosomal DNA fragmentation (INDF), including the PARP-1-regulated DNAS1L3. Despite the elaborate work on these endonucleases, the question of whether these enzymes cooperate during INDF was not addressed.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

PARP-1, the best studied isoform and most abundantly expressed member of the PARP family of 18 proteins, catalyzes the poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation (PARylation) of various nuclear proteins and play key roles in DNA repair, genome maintenance, DNA replication, recombination, apoptosis, gene expression, and regulation of chromatin function. PARylation modulates the functions of target proteins, mainly PARP-1 itself. A multifunctional enzyme, PARP-1 has been localized within DNA replication, repair, recombination, and transcription complexes, and modifies and regulates the functions of specific components of these complexes.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The DNA binding activity of NF-κB is critical for VCAM-1 expression during inflammation. DNA-dependent protein kinase (DNA-PK) is thought to be involved in NF-κB activation. Here we show that DNA-PK is required for VCAM-1 expression in response to TNF.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Phenoxodiol, a synthetic analog of Genistein, is being assessed in several clinical studies against a range of cancer types and was shown to have a good efficacy and safety profile. In this study we tested the effects of Phenoxodiol against prostate cancer cell lines.

Methods: Cell-cycle analysis, plasmatic membrane damage, clonogenic assay, comet assay, and Western blot methodologies were employed to assess the effects of Phenoxodiol on prostate cancer cell lines.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 (PARP-1) is the most abundant and the best-studied isoform of a family of enzymes that catalyze the polymerization of ADP-ribose from NAD(+) onto target proteins. PARP-1 is well known to involve in DNA repair, genomic stability maintenance, transcription regulation, apoptosis, and necrosis. Polyubiquitylation targets proteins towards degradation and regulates cell cycle progression, transcription, and apoptosis.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Environmental pollutants inducing oxidative stress stimulate chronic inflammatory responses in the lung leading to pulmonary tissue dysfunction. In response to oxidative stress, alveolar macrophages produce both reactive oxygen species and reactive nitrogen species, which induce the expression of a wide variety of immune-response genes. We found that a prolonged exposure of alveolar macrophages to a nonlethal dose (8 microg/ml) of JP-8, the kerosene-based hydrocarbon jet fuel, induced the persistent expression of IL-1, iNOS, and COX-2, as well as cell adhesion molecules (ICAM-1 and VCAM-1).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Lung epithelial cells are critical in the regulation of airway inflammation in response to environmental pollutants. Altered activation of NF-kappaB is associated with expression of several proinflammatory factors in respiratory epithelial cells in response to an insult. Here we show that a low threshold dose (8 microg/ml) of the jet fuel JP-8 induces in a rat alveolar epithelial cell line (RLE-6TN) a prolonged activation of NF-kappaB as well as the increased expression of the proinflammatory cytokines TNF-alpha and IL-8, which are regulated by NF-kappaB.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Alleles at NACP-Rep1, the polymorphic microsatellite repeat located approximately 10 kb upstream of the alpha -synuclein gene (SNCA), are associated, in some reports, with differing risks of sporadic Parkinson disease (PD). We showed previously that NACP-Rep1 acts as a negative modulator of SNCA transcription, with an effect that varied threefold among different NACP-Rep1 alleles. Given that duplications and triplications of SNCA have been implicated in familial Parkinson disease (PD), even a 1.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Many military personnel are at risk of lung damage or systemic toxicity as a result of exposure to the jet fuel JP-8. We have now used microarray analysis to characterize changes in the gene expression profile of lung tissue induced by exposure of rats to JP-8 at a concentration of 171 or 352 mg/m(3) for 1 h/d for 7 d, with the higher dose estimated to mimic the level of occupational exposure in humans. The expression of 56 genes was significantly affected by a factor of View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The skin is the principal barrier against any environmental insult. Therefore, there is a high risk for a large number of military and civilian personnel exposed to jet fuel JP-8 to suffer percutaneous absorption of this fuel. This paper reports the use of cDNA microarray to identify the gene expression profile in normal human epidermal keratinocytes exposed to JP-8 for 24-h and 7-day periods.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

1. The mechanism of toxicity of sulphur mustard was investigated by examining the biochemical effects of the analog 2-chloroethylethyl sulphide (CEES) in both human Jurkat cells as well as normal human lymphocytes. 2.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The transcription factor E2F-1 is implicated in the activation of S-phase genes as well as induction of apoptosis, and is regulated by interactions with Rb and by cell cycle-dependent alterations in E2F-1 abundance. We earlier demonstrated a pivotal role for poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 (PARP-1) in the regulation of E2F-1 expression and promoter activity during S-phase re-entry when quiescent cells re-enter the cell cycle. We now investigate the putative mechanism(s) by which PARP-1 may upregulate E2F-1 promoter activity during S-phase re-entry.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The jet fuel JP-8 is widely used and a large number of military and civilian personnel is, therefore, exposed to it. Treatment of several cell lines, including human Jurkat cells, with JP-8 induces cell death that exhibits various biochemical and morphological characteristics of apoptosis. The molecular mechanism of JP-8 cytotoxicity, however, has remained unclear.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Airway inflammation is a central feature of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) contribute to inflammation by damaging DNA, which, in turn, results in the activation of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 (PARP-1) and depletion of its substrate, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide. Here we show that prevention of PARP-1 activation protects against both ROS-induced airway epithelial cell injury in vitro and airway inflammation in vivo.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Sporadic Parkinson's disease (PD) affects primarily dopaminergic neurons of the substantia nigra pars compacta. There is evidence of necrotic and apoptotic neuronal death in PD, but the mechanisms behind selected dopaminergic neuronal death remain unknown. The tumor suppressor protein p53 functions to selectively destroy stressed or abnormal cells during life and development by means of necrosis and apoptosis.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The cytotoxic effect of the chemotherapeutic drug etoposide (VP-16) is thought to result from its ability to induce DNA damage and thereby to trigger apoptosis. Internucleosomal DNA fragmentation occurs late during apoptosis in many cell types. However, whereas human osteosarcoma cells undergo internucleosomal DNA fragmentation during staurosporine-induced apoptosis, they fail to do so in response to VP-16.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Acetaminophen is a widely used analgesic and antipyretic drug that exhibits toxicity at high doses to the liver and kidneys. This toxicity has been attributed to cytochrome P-450-generated metabolites which covalently modify target proteins. Recently, acetaminophen, in its unmetabolized form, has been shown to affect a variety of cells and tissues, for instance, testicular and lymphoid tissues and lymphocyte cell lines.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The toxic jet fuel JP-8 induces morphological and biochemical changes characteristic of apoptosis in rat lung epithelial (RLE-6TN) cells. The mechanism of JP-8 toxicity in these cells was further investigated in an attempt to identify potential therapeutic interventions. Given that oxidative stress and changes in the concentrations of endogenous antioxidants, such as glutathione (GSH), have been associated with the cellular damage elicited by numerous toxicants, the possibility that JP-8 induces cellular oxidative stress was investigated.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 (PARP-1) is a chromatin-associated enzyme that is activated by DNA strand breaks and catalyzes the transfer of ADP-ribose groups from NAD to itself and other nuclear proteins. Although caspase-mediated PARP-1 cleavage occurs during almost all forms of apoptosis, the contribution of PARP-1 activation and cleavage to this cell death process remains unclear. Using immortalized fibroblasts from wild-type (PARP-1(+/+)) and PARP-1 knockout (PARP-1(-/-)) mice, and a mouse neuroblastoma cell line (N18), the role that poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation plays in Sindbis virus (SV)-induced apoptosis was examined.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

DNA fragmentation factor (DFF) comprises DFF45 and DFF40 subunits, the former of which acts as an inhibitor of the latter (the catalytic subunit) and whose cleavage by caspase-3 results in DFF activation. Disruption of the DFF45 gene blocks the generation of 50-kb DNA fragments and confers resistance to apoptosis. We recently suggested that the early fragmentation of DNA by DFF and the consequent activation of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 (PARP-1), mitochondrial dysfunction, and activation of caspase-3 contribute to an amplification loop in the apoptotic process.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Several endonucleases are implicated in the internucleosomal DNA fragmentation associated with apoptosis. The human Ca2+- and Mg2+-dependent endonuclease DNAS1L3 is inhibited by poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation in vitro, and its activation during apoptosis shows a time course similar to that of the cleavage of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 (PARP-1). The role of the cleavage and consequent inactivation of PARP-1 by caspase-3 in the activation of DNAS1L3 has now been investigated further both in vitro and in vivo.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) is a DNA-binding enzyme that plays roles in response to DNA damage, apoptosis, and genetic stability. Recent evidence has implicated PARP in transcription of eukaryotic genes. However, the existing paradigm tying PARP function to the presence of DNA strand breaks does not provide a mechanism by which it may be recruited to gene-regulating domains in the absence of DNA damage.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF