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Identification and inhibition of the ICE/CED-3 protease necessary for mammalian apoptosis

Nature volume 376, pages 37–43 (1995)Cite this article

Abstract

The protease responsible for the cleavage of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase and necessary for apoptosis has been purified and characterized. This enzyme, named apopain, is composed of two subunits of relative molecular mass (Mr) 17K and 12K that are derived from a common proenzyme identified as CPP32. This proenzyme is related to interleukin-lβ-converting enzyme (ICE) and CED-3, the product of a gene required for programmed cell death in Caenorhabditis elegans. A potent peptide aldehyde inhibitor has been developed and shown to prevent apoptotic events in vitro, suggesting that apopain/CPP32 is important for the initiation of apoptotic cell death.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departments of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Merck Frosst Centre for Therapeutic Research, PO Box 1005, Pointe Claire-Dorval, Quebec, H9R 4P8, Canada

    Donald W. Nicholson, Ambereen Ali, John P. Vaillancourt, Neil A. Munday & Violeta L. Yu

  2. Departments of Medicinal Chemistry, Merck Frosst Centre for Therapeutic Research, PO Box 1005, Pointe Claire-Dorval, Quebec, H9R 4P8, Canada

    Michel Gallant, Yves Gareau & Marc Labelle

  3. Department of Biochemistry, Merck Research Laboratories, PO Box 2000, Rahway, New Jersey, 07065, USA

    Nancy A. Thornberry

  4. Department of Inflammation Research, Merck Research Laboratories, PO Box 2000, Rahway, New Jersey, 07065, USA

    Connie K. Ding, Patrick R. Griffin, Sayyaparaju M. Raju, Ting-Ting Yamin & Douglas K. Miller

  5. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, PO Box 100, Cold Spring Harbor, New York, 11724, USA

    Yuri A. Lazebnik

  6. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Georgetown University School of Medicine, 3900 Reservoir Road NW, Washington, DC, USA

    Mark E. Smulson

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Nicholson, D., Ali, A., Thornberry, N. et al. Identification and inhibition of the ICE/CED-3 protease necessary for mammalian apoptosis. Nature 376, 37–43 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1038/376037a0

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