S. Asoh et S. Ohta, BCL-2 COMPLETELY BLOCKS FAS-MEDIATED APOPTOSIS IN MTDNA-DEPLETED HELA-CELLS, Biochemical and biophysical research communications, 237(3), 1997, pp. 659-662
Bcl-2 inhibits apoptosis induced by a variety of death stimuli but doe
s not completely inhibit Fas-mediated apoptosis. We have previously sh
own that a HeLa-derived cell line lacking mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) ex
presses Fas at a high level and apoptosis is easily induced using a lo
w concentration of an anti-Fas antibody. In this study, overexpression
of BcI-2 in the mtDNA-less cells completely blocked Fas-mediated apop
tosis, and this was not due to a depression of the enhanced Fas expres
sion. These findings suggest that the Fas-mediated apoptotic pathway i
s directly linked to Bcl-2 protection in the cells with an accompanyin
g mitochondrial dysfunction. (C) 1997 Academic Press.