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IL‐4 induces apoptosis of endothelial cells through the caspase‐3‐dependent pathway
Author(s) -
Lee Yong Woo,
Kühn Hartmut,
Hennig Bernhard,
Toborek Michal
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1016/s0014-5793(00)02208-0
Subject(s) - apoptosis , microbiology and biotechnology , flow cytometry , chemistry , caspase , endothelial stem cell , caspase 3 , biology , programmed cell death , biochemistry , in vitro
The present study was designed to investigate the hypothesis that interleukin‐4 (IL‐4) can induce apoptosis of human endothelial cells and to study regulatory pathways of this process. Indeed, DNA ladder assay and flow cytometry study showed that IL‐4 can induce apoptosis of endothelial cells in a time‐ and dose‐dependent manner. In addition, IL‐4 markedly increased activity of caspase‐3, and inhibition of this enzyme suppressed IL‐4‐induced apoptosis in a dose‐dependent manner. These results provide the first evidence that IL‐4 can induce apoptosis of human endothelial cells. In addition, the data indicate that the caspase‐3‐dependent pathway is critically involved in this process.