The Ret finger protein induces apoptosis via its RING finger-B box-coiled-coil motif

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Title
The Ret finger protein induces apoptosis via its RING finger-B box-coiled-coil motif
Author(s)
So Hee Dho; Ki Sun Kwon
Bibliographic Citation
Journal of Biological Chemistry, vol. 278, no. 34, pp. 31902-31908
Publication Year
2003
Abstract
The Ret finger protein (RFP) is a member of the tri-partite motif family, which is characterized by a conserved RING finger, a B-box, and a coiled-coil domain (together called RBCC). Although RFP is known to become oncogenic when its RBCC moiety is connected to a tyrosine kinase domain by DNA rearrangement, its biological function is not well defined. Here we show that ectopic expression of RFP in human embryonic kidney 293 cells causes extensive apoptosis, as assessed by multiple criteria. RFP expression activates Jun N-terminal kinase and p38 kinase and also increases caspase-3-like activity. However, RFP failed to release cytochrome c and, therefore, to increase caspase-9-like activity. RFP-induced apoptosis could be blocked by the caspase-8 inhibitor crmA and dominant negative ASK1 but not by Bcl-2. These results reveal a novel RFP death pathway that recruits mitogen-activated protein kinase and caspases independently of mitochondrial events. Domain mapping showed that the intact RBCC moiety is necessary for the pro-apoptotic function of RFP. Moreover, expression of the RBCC moiety further potentiated the pro-apoptotic activity and resulted in a 7-fold increase of caspase activation compared with that induced by full-length RFP. This suggests that a large number of tripartite motif family members sharing the RBCC moiety may participate in the control of cell survival.
ISSN
0021-9258
Publisher
Amer Soc Biochemistry Molecular Biology Inc
DOI
http://dx.doi.org/10.1074/jbc.M304062200
Type
Article
Appears in Collections:
Aging Convergence Research Center > 1. Journal Articles
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