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(Stroke. 2006;37:507.)
© 2006 American Heart Association, Inc.
Original Contributions |
From the Department of Neurological Surgery (Y.M., S.M.H., P.R.W., J.L.), University of California, San Francisco, and San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center (Y.M., S.M.H., P.R.W., J.L.), San Francisco, Calif; Department of Neurological Surgery (Y.M., T.K.), Yamagata University, School of Medicine, Japan; Eudowood Neonatal Pulmonary Division, Department of Pediatrics (F.J.N.), The Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine, Baltimore, Md; and Departments of Neurology (R.A.S., Z.S.V., D.M.F.) and Pediatrics (R.A.S., Z.S.V., D.M.F.), University of California at San Francisco.
Correspondence to Dr Jialing Liu, Department of Neurological Surgery (112C), University of California, San Francisco, and Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, 4150 Clement St, San Francisco, CA 94121. E-mail miro{at}itsa.ucsf.edu
| Abstract |
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Methods Postnatal day 7 transgenic mice overexpressing rat Hsp70 (Hsp70 Tg) and their wild-type (Wt) littermates underwent unilateral common carotid artery ligation followed by 30 minutes of exposure to 8% O2. The expression of apoptotic proteins was quantified by Western blot analysis, and the specific interaction between Hsp70 and apoptotic protease activating factor 1 (Apaf-1) was determined by coimmunoprecipitation.
Results Hsp70 overexpression reduced cytosolic translocation of cytochrome c without affecting the levels of Apaf-1 and procaspase-9 24 hours after H/I. The expression of these apoptotic proteins in the naïve neonatal brains was also not affected by Hsp70 overexpression. Reduced caspase-9 cleavage occurred in Hsp70 Tg mice compared with Wt littermates 24 hours after H/I and correlated with increased binding of Hsp70 and Apaf-1. Increased cellular Fas-associated death domainlike interleukin-1ßconverting enzyme inhibitory protein (FLIP) expression and decreased caspase-8 cleavage were also observed in Hsp70 Tg compared with Wt mice 24 hours after H/I.
Conclusions Our results suggest that the extrinsic and intrinsic apoptotic pathways mediate the neuroprotective effects of Hsp70 overexpression in neonatal H/I, specifically by upregulating FLIP and sequestering Apaf-1, leading to reduced cleavage of caspase-8 and caspase-9.
Key Words: apoptosis mitochondria stress proteins
| Introduction |
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In mammalian systems, the 2 major pathways involved in the initiation of apoptosis, namely the "extrinsic" death receptor pathway and the "intrinsic" mitochondrial pathway, converge on a family of caspases.6 In the intrinsic pathway of apoptosis, which results from alterations at the level of the mitochondria and activation of the apoptosome, release of mitochondrial cytochrome c into the cytosol initiates caspase cascade activation.6,7 After being released into the cytosol, cytochrome c binds to apoptotic protease activating factor 1 (Apaf-1) in the presence of ATP/dATP, promoting the oligomerization of Apaf-1. Concurrently or subsequently, this complex recruits procaspase-9, forming a complex called the apoptosome.7 Assembly of the apoptosome allows procaspase-9 to be autoactivated, and this is followed by the recruitment and activation of procaspase-3. Cleaved caspase-9 remains bound to the apoptosome, which recruits and activates executioner caspases such as caspase-3 and caspase-7.7 Caspase-3 cleaves the inhibitor of caspase-activated deoxyribonuclease (DNase) and activates DNase, leading to DNA fragmentation.6 Alternatively, the extrinsic pathway is driven by activation of plasma membrane death receptors and activation of caspase-8. Both pathways converge on caspase-3, and cross-talk between pathways has been described.
Heat-shock protein 70 (Hsp70) joins the Bcl-2 family and inhibitors of apoptosis to form natural cellular inhibitors of caspases. Hsp70 has been shown to provide neuroprotection from cerebral ischemia in animal and cell-culture models of stroke.8 Hsp70 is also known to act as a molecular chaperone protein that antagonizes apoptosis by binding to apoptosis-inducing factor (AIF)9 or preventing the formation of the apoptosome by binding to Apaf-1 and blocking the activation of caspase-9.10,11 Despite recent advances, the antiapoptotic mechanism of Hsp70 in vivo is still not completely understood, particularly in the neonatal central nervous system. Previously, we described the specific interaction between Hsp70 and AIF after neonatal H/I insult in a caspase-independent fashion.12 In this study, we determine the neuroprotective role of Hsp70 in mediating caspase-8 and caspase-9 activation and interaction with the extrinsic and intrinsic pathway in mice overexpressing Hsp70 in a model of neonatal H/I injury.
| Materials and Methods |
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Neonatal H/I Model
The Rice-Vannucci neonatal adaptation of the Levine procedure was used to induce H/I injury.14 Postnatal day 7 Hsp70 Tg and Wt mice weighing 4 to 5 g were subjected to right common carotid artery occlusion and then exposed to 8% humidified O2 and balanced N2 for 30 minutes as described previously.12
Immunohistochemistry
Five days after H/I, pups were deeply anesthetized and transcardially perfused with 4% paraformaldehyde as described previously.12 Serial 30-mm coronal sections were cut with a cryostat. Immunohistochemistry was performed to evaluate the spatial expression pattern of cleaved caspase-9 after H/I by using rabbit anticleaved caspase-9 (1:10000; Cell Signaling Technology Inc.). Biotinylated goat anti-rabbit Ig (1:200; Amersham Life Science) were used as secondary antibodies and visualized as described previously.12
Subcellular Fractionation and Western Blot Analysis
To investigate the differential changes in apoptosome assembly after H/I, subcellular fractionation and Western blotting were performed on lysates from 34 Hsp70 Tg and 30 Wt mice subjected to H/I injury and compared with results from 6 naïve mice. Protein samples for Western blot analysis were prepared from injured hemispheres 6, 12, 24, and 48 hours after H/I.12 Cytosolic, mitochondrial, and membrane fractions were obtained by serial centrifugation.12,15 Protein concentrations were determined by using the Bradford protein assay (Bio-Rad). Ten micrograms of protein were loaded in each lane and blotted with primary mouse anti-Hsp70 (1:2000; Stressgen); rabbit anticytochrome c (1:1000), rabbit anticaspase-8 (1:100), mouse antiFas-associated death domainlike interleukin-1ßconverting enzyme inhibitory protein (FLIP; 1:100), and rabbit anti-Fas death receptor (FDR; 1:2000; Santa Cruz Biotechnology); rabbit anticaspase-9 and rabbit anticleaved caspase-9 (1:10000; Cell Signaling Technology Inc.); and rat antiApaf-1 (1:10000; Chemicon). ß-Actin (1:10000; Sigma) and mouse anticytochrome oxidase subunit IV (COX IV; 0.2 mg/mL; Molecular Probes) were used as internal controls for the cytosolic and mitochondrial fraction, respectively. Alternatively, equal loading was validated by quantification of Coomassie-stained gels by using optical densitometry. The signals were scanned and optical density quantified as described previously.12
Coimmunoprecipitation
The cytosolic fractions collected from brains 24 hours after H/I and control were preincubated with protein G agarose (Calbiochem) to remove nonspecific binding proteins, followed by incubation with antiApaf-1 antibody as described previously.12 Pellets were precipitated by centrifugation at 12 000g for 20 seconds and washed 3 times with suspension buffer. After boiling for 3 minutes to dissociate the immune complexes, the samples were again centrifuged at 12 000 g for 20 seconds, and the supernatant was used for Western blot analysis.
Statistical Analyses
Data were expressed as mean±SD and evaluated by ANOVA, followed by Tukey-Kramer post hoc tests when appropriate. P values <0.05 were considered statistically significant. Statistical analyses were performed with StatView (Version 5.0.1; SAS Institute Inc.).
| Results |
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No significant differences in cytosolic cytochrome c, Apaf-1, and procaspase-9 expression were observed in the naïve controls between Hsp70 Tg and Wt mice (Figure 1A through 1C), suggesting that germline Hsp70 overexpression has no effect on baseline expression of apoptosome components attributable to a compensatory effect.
Hsp70 Overexpression Reduces Caspase-9 Cleavage After H/I
The expression of cleaved caspase-9 peaked at 24 hours after H/I and then decreased at 48 hours in Wt mice. There was significantly more cleaved caspase-9 in Wt mice 24 hours after H/I compared with naïve control Wt mice (P<0.05) in contrast to the mild increase seen in Hsp70 Tg mice exposed to H/I compared with naïve control Hsp70 Tg mice (Figure 2 A and 2B). Significantly less cleaved caspase-9 was detected 24 hours after H/I in Hsp70 Tg than Wt mice (P<0.05). Corroborating results also demonstrated a significant reduction in the number of cells immunoreactive to antibodies against cleaved caspase-9 in the Hsp70 Tg mice compared with Wt mice at 24 hours after H/I (Figure 2C).
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More Hsp70 Coimmunoprecipitated With Apaf-1 I in Hsp70 Tg Mice After H/I Compared With Wt Mice
Coimmunoprecipitation was performed to investigate the physical interaction between Hsp70 and Apaf-1 after H/I insult. Coimmunoprecipitation using an antibody against Apaf-1 brought down significantly more Hsp70 protein from lysates of the injured hemispheres of Hsp70 Tg mice than Wt mice 24 hours after H/I (P<0.05; Figure 3).
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Marked Inhibition of FDR Signaling in Hsp70 Tg Mice
Wt and Hsp70 Tg mice expressed substantial amounts of FDR protein at baseline and after H/I, and there were no differences in the expression of the FDR protein at any time point measured (Figure 4 A). In contrast, there were marked differences in the expression of the short (S; 28 kDa) and long (L; 55 kDa) isoforms of FLIP. A minimal amount of FLIP-L was expressed at baseline followed by a mild induction of both isoforms 6 hours after H/I in Wt and Hsp70 Tg mice. Expression of FLIP-L dissipated by 12 hours after H/I in Wt and Hsp70 Tg mice, but recovered with robust expression in the brains of Hsp70 Tg mice 24 hours after H/I. No FLIP-L was detectable in Wt animals at 24 hours after H/I (Figure 4B). A similar pattern was seen in the expression of FLIP-S (data not shown). The robust expression of FLIP at 24 hours after H/I was associated with a decrease in the expression of 2 of the cleaved forms of caspase-8 in Hsp70 Tg mice (18/20 kDa: Wt 0.55±0.14, Tg 0.3±0.04; 33/kDa: Wt 3.2±2.7, Tg 1.0±0.016; optical density; Figure 4B).
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| Discussion |
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The neuroprotective effect of Hsp70 overexpression after neonatal H/I injury is probably related to high levels of constitutive Hsp70 protein before insult in the Hsp70 Tg mice because in a previous study of ours, a robust induction of Hsp70 observed in Wt mice 6 hours after H/I did not effectively protect the brain from H/I injury.12 The neuroprotection observed in Hsp70 mice was not attributed to variance in cerebral blood flow or body temperature because there was no significant difference in cortical cerebral blood flow and rectal temperature between the Hsp70 Tg and Wt mice at any given time during the investigation.12
Among the major apoptotic pathways identified, Apaf-1 and caspase-9 play an essential role during development.4,16 The majority of Apaf-1 or caspase-9 knockout mice die perinatally and have a markedly enlarged brain or cerebellum, craniofacial malformations, persistence of the interdigital webs, and alterations of the eye, all caused by reduced apoptosis during brain development.1719 Constitutive amounts of cleaved caspase-9 detected in the brains of postnatal day 7 neonatal mice not subjected to H/I suggest an ongoing process of apoptosis in normal development (Figure 2). In the present study, we observed more Hsp70 bound to Apaf-1 in Hsp70 Tg mice compared with Wt mice 24 hours after H/I (Figure 3). Apaf-1 is known to bind to procaspase-9 via the caspase recruitment domain of Apaf-1.20 A recent study revealed that Hsp70 inhibits oligomerization of Apaf-1 and association of Apaf-1 with procaspase-9 by competing for the caspase recruitment domain binding domain.10 Considering these results, the direct binding of Hsp70 to Apaf-1 may be one of the mechanisms that reduce caspase-9 cleavage, which leads to reduced apoptosis. Hsp70 can interfere with apoptosis at several other points in the death cascade in lieu of blocking Apaf-1 formation, including antagonizing AIF12 and increasing Bcl-2 expression.2123
The fact that Fas is upregulated after H/I in rats24 and neonatal mice lacking FDR are resistant to H/I brain injury15 suggests the involvement of the extrinsic pathway of apoptosis in neonatal H/I injury. Although we did not observe changes in FDR expression after H/I in either Hsp70 Tg or Wt mice, we detected a biphasic response of c-FLIP (Figure 4), a Fas-mediated signal transduction protein, similar to the finding reported after traumatic brain injury.25 c-FLIP was increased initially then decreased to control level at 12 hours, increasing robustly again at 24 hours after H/I in the Hsp70 Tg mice. FLIP acts as an endogenous cytoplasmic decoy26 for caspase-8, competitively inhibiting its binding to Fas-associated protein death domain and its subsequent autocatalytic cleavage to active forms. Decreased expression of the fully active 20/18 kDa caspase-8 24 hours after H/I in Hsp70 Tg mice compared with Wt mice suggests a dominant-negative effect of FLIP in the present model (Figure 4). Reduction of activated caspase-8 might lead to reduced Bid cleavage and subsequently reduced mitochondria-dependent apoptosis.
Summary
In conclusion, our results suggest that the extrinsic and intrinsic apoptotic pathways mediate the neuroprotective effects of Hsp70 overexpression in neonatal H/I. Specifically, there is marked expression of the caspase-8 decoy protein FLIP in mice overexpressing Hsp70, and this correlates with decreased expression of the active cleaved form of caspase-8. In addition to the reduction of cytochrome c release, Apaf-1 is sequestered and downstream caspase-9 cleavage decreased in Hsp70 overexpressors after neonatal H/I.
| Acknowledgments |
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Received August 26, 2005; revision received October 17, 2005; accepted October 27, 2005.
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