SMAC Negatively Regulates the Anti-apoptotic Activity of Melanoma Inhibitor of Apoptosis (ML-IAP)
2002; Elsevier BV; Volume: 277; Issue: 14 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1074/jbc.m112045200
ISSN1083-351X
AutoresDomagoj Vucic, Kurt Deshayes, Heidi Ackerly, M. Teresa Pisabarro, Saloumeh Kadkhodayan, Wayne J. Fairbrother, Vishva M. Dixit,
Tópico(s)Insect Resistance and Genetics
ResumoInhibitors of apoptosis (IAPs) physically interact with a variety of pro-apoptotic proteins and inhibit apoptosis induced by diverse stimuli. X-linked IAP (X-IAP) is a prototype IAP family member that inhibits several caspases, the effector proteases of apoptosis. The inhibitory activity of X-IAP is regulated by SMAC, a protein that is processed to its active form upon receipt of a death stimulus. Cleaved SMAC binds X-IAP and antagonizes its anti-apoptotic activity. Here we show that melanoma IAP (ML-IAP), a potent anti-cell death protein and caspase inhibitor, physically interacts with SMAC through its BIR (baculovirus IAP repeat) domain. In addition to binding full-length SMAC, ML-IAP BIR associates with SMAC peptides that are derived from the amino terminus of active, processed SMAC. This high affinity interaction is very specific and can be completely abolished by single amino acid mutations either in the amino terminus of active SMAC or in the BIR domain of ML-IAP. In cells expressing ML-IAP and X-IAP, SMAC coexpression or addition of SMAC peptides abrogates the ability of the IAPs to inhibit cell death. These results demonstrate the feasibility of using SMAC peptides as a way to sensitize IAP-expressing cells to pro-apoptotic stimuli such as chemotherapeutic agents. Inhibitors of apoptosis (IAPs) physically interact with a variety of pro-apoptotic proteins and inhibit apoptosis induced by diverse stimuli. X-linked IAP (X-IAP) is a prototype IAP family member that inhibits several caspases, the effector proteases of apoptosis. The inhibitory activity of X-IAP is regulated by SMAC, a protein that is processed to its active form upon receipt of a death stimulus. Cleaved SMAC binds X-IAP and antagonizes its anti-apoptotic activity. Here we show that melanoma IAP (ML-IAP), a potent anti-cell death protein and caspase inhibitor, physically interacts with SMAC through its BIR (baculovirus IAP repeat) domain. In addition to binding full-length SMAC, ML-IAP BIR associates with SMAC peptides that are derived from the amino terminus of active, processed SMAC. This high affinity interaction is very specific and can be completely abolished by single amino acid mutations either in the amino terminus of active SMAC or in the BIR domain of ML-IAP. In cells expressing ML-IAP and X-IAP, SMAC coexpression or addition of SMAC peptides abrogates the ability of the IAPs to inhibit cell death. These results demonstrate the feasibility of using SMAC peptides as a way to sensitize IAP-expressing cells to pro-apoptotic stimuli such as chemotherapeutic agents. Programmed cell death, or apoptosis, is a genetically regulated mechanism that plays an important role in development and homeostasis in metazoans (1.Steller H. Science. 1995; 267: 1445-1449Crossref PubMed Scopus (2425) Google Scholar). Abnormalities in programmed cell death that lead to early cell death or the absence of normal cell death have been linked to a variety of human diseases, including neurodegenerative disorders and cancer (2.Thompson C.B. Science. 1995; 267: 1456-1462Crossref PubMed Scopus (6179) Google Scholar). Currently there are two well characterized apoptotic pathways, one initiated through the engagement of cell surface death receptors by their specific ligands (3.Ashkenazi A. Dixit V.M. Science. 1998; 281: 1305-1308Crossref PubMed Scopus (5127) Google Scholar) and the other triggered by changes in internal cellular integrity (4.Budihardjo I. Oliver H. Lutter M. Luo X. Wang X. Annu. Rev. Cell Dev. Biol. 1999; 15: 269-290Crossref PubMed Scopus (2253) Google Scholar). Both pathways eventually converge, resulting in activation of caspases, cysteine-dependent aspartate-specific proteases that comprise the effector arm of the apoptotic process (5.Vaux D.L. Korsmeyer S.J. Cell. 1999; 96: 245-254Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (1361) Google Scholar). The major regulators of caspases are the IAPs 1The abbreviations used are: IAPinhibitors of apoptosisX-IAPX-linked IAPML-IAPmelanoma IAPHPLChigh performance liquid chromatography5-FAM5-carboxyfluoresceinRPRReaper 1The abbreviations used are: IAPinhibitors of apoptosisX-IAPX-linked IAPML-IAPmelanoma IAPHPLChigh performance liquid chromatography5-FAM5-carboxyfluoresceinRPRReaper or inhibitors of apoptosis (6.Miller L.K. Trends Cell Biol. 1999; 9: 323-328Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (316) Google Scholar). Originally identified in baculoviruses by their ability to substitute functionally for P35, a potent anti-apoptotic gene product (7.Crook N.E. Clem R.J. Miller L.K. J. Virol. 1993; 67: 2168-2174Crossref PubMed Google Scholar, 8.Birnbaum M.J. Clem R.J. Miller L.K. J. Virol. 1994; 68: 2521-2528Crossref PubMed Google Scholar, 9.Clem R.J. Miller L.K. Mol. Cell. 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Hay B.A. Cell. 1999; 98: 453-463Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (435) Google Scholar). SMAC/DIABLO performs a similar function to RPR, HID, and GRIM in mammals (31.Du C. Fang M. Li Y. Li L. Wang X. Cell. 2000; 102: 33-42Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (2902) Google Scholar, 32.Verhagen A.M. Ekert P.G. Pakusch M. Silke J. Connolly L.M. Reid G.E. Moritz R.L. Simpson R.J. Vaux D.L. Cell. 2000; 102: 43-53Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (1966) Google Scholar). An amino-terminal signal sequence targets SMAC to mitochondria (31.Du C. Fang M. Li Y. Li L. Wang X. Cell. 2000; 102: 33-42Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (2902) Google Scholar), but during apoptosis, SMAC is processed into the active form and released into the cytosol where it binds IAPs and prevents them from inhibiting caspases (31.Du C. Fang M. Li Y. Li L. Wang X. 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Chai J. Lee R.A. Robbins P.D. Fernandes-Alnemri T. Shi Y. Alnemri E.S. Nature. 2001; 410: 112-116Crossref PubMed Scopus (855) Google Scholar) and in HtrA2, a recently identified SMAC-like IAP antagonist (36.Martins L.M. Iaccarino I. Tenev T. Gschmeissner S. Totty N.F. Lemoine N.R. Savopoulos J. Gray C.W. Creasy C.L. Dingwall C. Downward J. J. Biol. Chem. 2001; 276: 439-444Google Scholar, 37.Hegde R. Srinivasula S.M. Zhang Z. Wassell R. Mukattash R. Cilenti L. DuBois G. Lazebnik Y. Zervos A.S. Fernandes-Alnemri T. Alnemri E.S. J. Biol. Chem. 2002; 277: 432-438Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (632) Google Scholar, 38.Suzuki Y. Imai Y. Nakayama H. Takahashi K. Takio K. Takahashi R. Mol. Cell. 2001; 8: 613-621Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (935) Google Scholar, 39.Verhagen A.M. Silke J. Ekert P.G. Pakusch M. Kaufmann H. Connolly L.M. Day C.L. Tikoo A. Burke R. Wrobel C. Moritz R.L. Simpson R.J. Vaux D.L. J. Biol. 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The specificity of the SMAC-ML-IAP interaction is supported by the finding that single amino acid changes in the amino terminus of active SMAC or the BIR domain of ML-IAP completely abolish their association. Plasmids expressing β-galactosidase, p35, Myc-XIAP, and Myc-ML-IAP, as well as ML-IAP deletions and site-specific mutants, have been described previously (15.Vucic D. Stennicke H.R. Pisabarro M.T. Salvesen G.S. Dixit V.M. Curr. Biol. 2000; 10: 1359-1366Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (383) Google Scholar, 42.Pan G. Ni J. Wei Y.F. Yu G. Gentz R. Dixit V.M. Science. 1997; 277: 815-818Crossref PubMed Scopus (1376) Google Scholar, 43.McCarthy J.V. Dixit V.M. J. Biol. Chem. 1998; 273: 24009-24015Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (91) Google Scholar). cDNA encoding human SMAC was PCR-amplified from a HeLa cDNA library with SMAC-specific primers. SMAC cDNA was then subcloned into the mammalian expression vector pcDNA3.1 with a carboxyl-terminal FLAG tag (Invitrogen). The SMAC55M construct (amino acids 56–239) was also PCR-amplified and similarly subcloned into the pcDNA3.1 vector. Sequences encoding X-IAP BIR3 (amino acid residues 241–356) and ML-IAP BIR (amino acid residues 63–179) were subcloned into pET15b vector (Novagen) for bacterial expression. Human 293T embryonic kidney cells and MCF7 human breast carcinoma cells were cultured as described previously (43.McCarthy J.V. Dixit V.M. J. Biol. Chem. 1998; 273: 24009-24015Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (91) Google Scholar). The primary antibodies used were anti-FLAG M2 (Sigma-Aldrich), anti-Myc (Covance), anti-caspase-9 (PharMingen), and anti-SMAC (Imgenex). Immunoprecipitations were performed as described previously (15.Vucic D. Stennicke H.R. Pisabarro M.T. Salvesen G.S. Dixit V.M. Curr. Biol. 2000; 10: 1359-1366Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (383) Google Scholar, 43.McCarthy J.V. Dixit V.M. J. Biol. Chem. 1998; 273: 24009-24015Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (91) Google Scholar). Escherichia coli strain BL21 (DE3) transformed with pET-15b-X-IAP-BIR3 or pET-15b-ML-IAP-BIR was induced with 1 mm isopropyl-β-d-thiogalactopyranoside for 4 h at 30 °C, pelleted, and resuspended in 100 ml of Buffer A (50 mm Tris (pH 8.0), 300 mm NaCl, 5 mm β-mercaptoethanol, 0.5 mmphenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride, 2 mm benzamidine) containing 5 mm imidazole. Lysate produced by homogenization and centrifugation was passed through nickel-agarose and Superdex 75 sizing columns, washed, eluted, and dialyzed against buffer containing 50 mm Tris (pH 8.0), 120 mm NaCl, 5 mm dithiothreitol, 0.5 mmphenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride, 2 mm benzamidine, 50 μm zinc acetate, and 1 mm sodium azide. Antennapedia (RQIKIWFQNRRMKWKK-NH2) fusions were constructed using standard solid phase methods utilizing Wang resin with a rink amide linker and Fmoc (N-(9-fluorenyl)methoxycarbonyl) chemistry. The peptides were cleaved using a mixture of 1:0.05:0.02 trifluoroacetic acid:triisopropyl silane:ethyl methyl sulfide. The resulting peptides were purified by preparative HPLC and analyzed by HPLC and mass spectrometry. The fluorescein-labeled peptides AVPIAQKSEK-5-FAM (SMAC), ATPFQEGLRK-5-FAM (caspase-9), and AVPSPPPASK-5-FAM (HtrA2), and biotin derivatives AVPIAQKSEK-biotin (SMAC), ATPFQEGLRK-biotin (caspase-9), and AVPSPPPASK-biotin (HtrA2) were constructed as COOH-terminal amides using modified Fmoc chemistry with the amino-terminal amino acid N-α-protected with tert-butoxycarbonyl. The labels were attached through N-ε of a lysine attached to the COOH terminus of the nine-residue peptides by selectively removing the N-ε (4,4-dimethyl-2,6-dioxoxocyclohex-1-ylidene)-3-methylbutyl-protecting group with 2% hydrazine in dimethylacetamide. Coupling with either 5-FAM or biotin was achieved using benzotriazole-1-yl-oxy-tris-pyrrolidino-phosphonium hexaphosphate as the condensation reagent. The control peptide biotin-TGWETWVCOOH was made by biotinylating the amino terminus of the peptide. Trifluoroacetic acid cleavage and HPLC purification obtained the labeled peptides. Fluorescence polarization experiments were performed in 96-well plates on the Analyst HT 96–384 (Molecular Devices Corporation). Binding experiments were performed using 1:3 serial dilutions of ML-IAP BIR and X-IAP BIR3 domains starting from 300 μm in 50 mm Tris buffer (pH 7.2), 120 mm NaCl, 5 mm dithiothreitol. An approximately 1 nmconcentraton of each 5-carboxyfluorescein-tagged probe was added to a set of wells containing the protein dilutions. The Kd values of the probe-protein interactions were calculated using Klotz plots and confirmed by Scatchard analysis. The high resolution crystal structure of SMAC/DIABLO complexed with the BIR3 domain of X-IAP (40.Wu G. Chai J. Suber T.L. Wu J.W. Du C. Wang X. Shi Y. Nature. 2000; 408: 1008-1012Crossref PubMed Scopus (702) Google Scholar) was used to model the NH2-terminal four residues (Ala-Val-Pro-Ile) of SMAC/DIABLO into the binding groove of the previously modeled structure of ML-IAP (15.Vucic D. Stennicke H.R. Pisabarro M.T. Salvesen G.S. Dixit V.M. Curr. Biol. 2000; 10: 1359-1366Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (383) Google Scholar). Both protein structures, X-IAP and ML-IAP, were superimposed by their α carbons (root mean square of Cα = 0.47 Å), and docking of the SMAC peptide was manually performed on the ML-IAP binding site. The ML-IAP·SMAC complex was energy minimized using DISCOVER (Molecular Simulations, Inc.). Amino acid sequence alignments were performed using ClustalW (44.Thompson J.D. Higgins D.G. Gibson T.J. Nucleic Acids Res. 1994; 22: 4673-4680Crossref PubMed Scopus (55409) Google Scholar). Apoptosis assays were performed essentially as described previously (15.Vucic D. Stennicke H.R. Pisabarro M.T. Salvesen G.S. Dixit V.M. Curr. Biol. 2000; 10: 1359-1366Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (383) Google Scholar, 42.Pan G. Ni J. Wei Y.F. Yu G. Gentz R. Dixit V.M. Science. 1997; 277: 815-818Crossref PubMed Scopus (1376) Google Scholar). SMAC has been shown to physically associate with several IAP family members, most prominently with X-IAP (31.Du C. Fang M. Li Y. Li L. Wang X. Cell. 2000; 102: 33-42Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (2902) Google Scholar). To determine whether SMAC can bind ML-IAP, we coexpressed SMAC with X-IAP, ML-IAP, or vector control. Upon overexpression, SMAC was processed to its active form whereby the first amino-terminal 55 amino acids are cleaved (Fig. 1A). Association of ML-IAP and X-IAP with active SMAC was demonstrated by immunoprecipitation, and the interactions occurred with similar efficiency (Fig. 1A). We investigated the portion of ML-IAP that is responsible for interaction with SMAC using truncation mutants of ML-IAP containing either the BIR or the RING finger domains (Fig. 1B). The BIR domain, like full-length ML-IAP, immunoprecipitated active SMAC but the RING finger domain did not (Fig. 1B). Thus, ML-IAP physically interacts with SMAC through its BIR domain. Sequence comparison of the active forms of human SMAC, HtrA2, and caspases-9 and fly RPR, HID, and GRIM revealed a strong similarity in their amino termini (Fig. 2A) (35.Srinivasula S.M. Hegde R. Saleh A. Datta P. Shiozaki E. Chai J. Lee R.A. Robbins P.D. Fernandes-Alnemri T. Shi Y. Alnemri E.S. Nature. 2001; 410: 112-116Crossref PubMed Scopus (855) Google Scholar). Since the four amino-terminal residues (Ala, Val, Pro, Ile) of active SMAC fit into the binding groove on the surface of the X-IAP BIR3 (40.Wu G. Chai J. Suber T.L. Wu J.W. Du C. Wang X. Shi Y. Nature. 2000; 408: 1008-1012Crossref PubMed Scopus (702) Google Scholar), we investigated whether a similar complex might form between ML-IAP BIR and SMAC peptide. A three-dimensional model based on the reported structure of the SMAC·X-IAP BIR3 complex predicted that SMAC peptide should bind ML-IAP BIR much as it does X-IAP BIR3 (Fig. 2B). To test the validity of our model, we examined whether SMAC, HtrA2, caspase-9, or control peptides could bind the BIR3 domain of X-IAP or the BIR of ML-IAP. SMAC, HtrA2, and caspase-9 peptides efficiently pulled down purified X-IAP BIR3 and ML-IAP BIR, whereas a control peptide did not (Fig. 3A). The binding affinities of these peptides for X-IAP BIR3 and ML-IAP BIR were determined by a fluorescence polarization-based assay (Fig. 3, B and C). SMAC, HtrA2, and caspase-9 peptides exhibited binding affinities in the low micromolar range for X-IAP BIR3 (Fig. 3B) and in the submicromolar range for ML-IAP BIR (Fig. 3C). These results indicate that ML-IAP BIR binds SMAC and other mammalian RPR-like peptides with high affinity and in a manner similar to X-IAP BIR3. Processing of SMAC exposes the four amino-terminal residues that mediate binding to X-IAP and are required for SMAC to block caspase inhibition by X-IAP. We investigated whether this region of SMAC is also required for SMAC to bind ML-IAP and abrogate its anti-cell death activity. Active SMAC was mimicked in coimmunoprecipitation experiments using an amino-terminally truncated form of SMAC (amino acids 56–239) (SMAC55M) (Fig. 4A). Full-length SMAC that was processed to its active form was able to bind ML-IAP or X-IAP (Fig. 4B). In contrast, there was no interaction between SMAC55M and ML-IAP or X-IAP (Fig. 4B). Consistent with these results, SMAC but not SMAC55M was able to abrogate ML-IAP-mediated inhibition of adriamycin-induced apoptosis (Fig. 4C). Addition of a single methionine to the amino terminus of active SMAC was therefore sufficient to block its inhibitory effect on ML-IAP. We also tested whether peptides corresponding to the nine residues at the amino terminus of active SMAC would reverse ML-IAP-mediated inhibition of apoptosis. SMAC and M-SMAC peptides, the latter having an additional amino-terminal methionine, were synthesized as fusions with antennapedia peptide. Antennapedia peptides permit chimeric fusions to gain entry into the cell where they can engage their targets (45.Derossi D. Chassaing G. Prochiantz A. Trends Cell Biol. 1998; 8: 84-87Abstract Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (659) Google Scholar). Expression of ML-IAP or X-IAP efficiently blocked adriamycin-induced apoptosis, and addition of M-SMAC peptides did not have a significant inhibitory effect on the protective activity of IAPs (Fig. 4D). However, addition of SMAC peptides almost completely negated the ability of ML-IAP and X-IAP to inhibit apoptosis (Fig. 4D). Thus, coexpression of full-length SMAC or addition of SMAC-like peptides abrogates the anti-apoptotic activity of ML-IAP. To better understand the mechanism by which SMAC antagonizes the anti-apoptotic function of ML-IAP, we investigated the effect of SMAC on the ability of ML-IAP to bind caspase-9. When overexpressed, caspase-9 undergoes autocatalytic processing, and it is the processed form that physically interacts with X-IAP (35.Srinivasula S.M. Hegde R. Saleh A. Datta P. Shiozaki E. Chai J. Lee R.A. Robbins P.D. Fernandes-Alnemri T. Shi Y. Alnemri E.S. Nature. 2001; 410: 112-116Crossref PubMed Scopus (855) Google Scholar, 46.Ekert P.G. Silke J. Hawkins C.J. Verhagen A.M. Vaux D.L. J. Cell Biol. 2001; 152: 483-490Crossref PubMed Scopus (162) Google Scholar). Similarly, ML-IAP coimmunoprecipitated processed caspase-9 but not its zymogen precursor (Fig. 5A). The interaction between ML-IAP and caspase-9 is highly specific, because mutation of aspartate 138 to alanine in the BIR domain of ML-IAP completely abolished the ability of ML-IAP to bind processed caspase-9 (Fig. 5A). Coexpression of caspase-9 and ML-IAP with SMAC prevented ML-IAP from interacting with caspase-9 (Fig. 5B). Instead, SMAC associated with ML-IAP (Fig. 5B), indicating that SMAC binding to ML-IAP disrupts the interaction of ML-IAP with caspase-9. Previously, we demonstrated that mutating aspartates 120 and 138 to alanine in ML-IAP abolishes its anti-apoptotic activity (15.Vucic D. Stennicke H.R. Pisabarro M.T. Salvesen G.S. Dixit V.M. Curr. Biol. 2000; 10: 1359-1366Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (383) Google Scholar). The effect of these mutations on ML-IAP interaction with SMAC was characterized. As an additional control we expressed a double glutamate ML-IAP mutant (E87A,E88A) that possessed equivalent anti-apoptotic activity to wild type ML-IAP. SMAC immunoprecipitated ML-IAP and E87A,E88A ML-IAP, but no interaction was observed between SMAC and the D120A or D138A mutants (Fig. 6A). The same was true in the inverse experiment where ML-IAP and E87A,E88A mutant, but not D138A mutant, immunoprecipitated SMAC (Fig. 6B). To examine the interaction of endogenous SMAC with ML-IAP, we generated stably transfected MCF-7 cell lines expressing FLAG-tagged ML-IAP or the D138A mutant. Consistent with our earlier results (Fig. 6, A and B), endogenous SMAC was coimmunoprecipitated from cells expressing ML-IAP, but not the D138A mutant (Fig. 6C). To determine whether SMAC peptide can bind IAPs expressed in cells, lysates prepared from 293T cells transfected with the X-IAP, ML-IAP, or ML-IAP D138A mutant were incubated with biotinylated SMAC peptide or control peptide. Immunoblotting following peptide precipitation revealed that the SMAC peptide precipitated X-IAP and ML-IAP but not the ML-IAP D138A mutant (Fig. 6D). Therefore, aspartate 138 in the BIR domain of ML-IAP is a critical residue for the binding of SMAC. Inhibition of caspases by IAPs occurs at the core of the apoptotic machinery, and thus regulation of IAPs by SMAC and SMAC-like proteins represents a key control point in deciding cell fate. We have shown that ML-IAP is regulated by SMAC, since SMAC physically associates with ML-IAP and abrogates the anti-apoptotic activity of ML-IAP. Interaction with SMAC is mediated through the BIR domain of ML-IAP and amino-terminal residues of active SMAC. Three-dimensional modeling together with protein binding studies demonstrated that SMAC binds the BIR of ML-IAP with high affinity and in a manner similar to which it binds the X-IAP BIR3 domain. Further highlighting the similarity of these interactions, mutation of residues in ML-IAP BIR that correspond to functionally important amino acids in X-IAP BIR3 (41.Liu Z. Sun C. Olejniczak E.T. Meadows R.P. Betz S.F. Oost T. Herrmann J. Wu J.C. Fesik S.W. Nature. 2000; 408: 1004-1008Crossref PubMed Scopus (541) Google Scholar) interrupted binding to SMAC. Aspartate 138 of ML-IAP is predicted to be in contact with alanine at the amino terminus of active SMAC peptide and, therefore, is critical for the interaction of ML-IAP with SMAC. Previous studies have shown the importance of the amino terminus of active SMAC for binding X-IAP (33.Srinivasula S.M. Datta P. Fan X.J. Fernandes-Alnemri T. Huang Z. Alnemri E.S. J. Biol. Chem. 2000; 275: 36152-36157Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (311) Google Scholar, 40.Wu G. Chai J. Suber T.L. Wu J.W. Du C. Wang X. Shi Y. Nature. 2000; 408: 1008-1012Crossref PubMed Scopus (702) Google Scholar, 41.Liu Z. Sun C. Olejniczak E.T. Meadows R.P. Betz S.F. Oost T. Herrmann J. Wu J.C. Fesik S.W. Nature. 2000; 408: 1004-1008Crossref PubMed Scopus (541) Google Scholar). We have demonstrated that this short region is important for binding ML-IAP and antagonizing its anti-apoptotic activity. We have also demonstrated that SMAC peptides can specifically bind and inhibit IAPs. SMAC peptide bound purified BIR domains and X-IAP and ML-IAP from cell lysates, and in doing so, nullified IAP's ability to inhibit apoptosis. To our knowledge, this is the first report in which the functional potential of SMAC or SMAC-like peptides has been explored in a cellular context. Such peptides have obvious therapeutic potential in the treatment of cancer cells that resist conventional cytotoxic therapies. IAPs do contribute to the resistance of cancers to chemotherapeutic agents, since they are widely and, in some cases like ML-IAP, specifically expressed in human malignancies (15.Vucic D. Stennicke H.R. Pisabarro M.T. Salvesen G.S. Dixit V.M. Curr. Biol. 2000; 10: 1359-1366Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (383) Google Scholar, 19.LaCasse E.C. Baird S. Korneluk R.G. MacKenzie A.E. Oncogene. 1998; 17: 3247-3259Crossref PubMed Scopus (941) Google Scholar). We thank Karen O'Rourke and Kim Newton for critically reading the manuscript, Grace Mausisa for input in the flourescence polarization assays, the sequencing laboratory for help with sequencing, and the members of the Dixit laboratory for helpful discussions.
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