Involvement of ASK1 activation in apoptosis induced by NPe6-PDT

摘要

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) employing photosensiter N-aspartyl chlorin e6 (NPe6) can induce lysosome disruption and initiate apoptotic pathway. Apoptosis signal-regulating kinase (ASK1) is an important regulator of apoptosis in response to various stresses; such as reactive oxygen species (ROS); endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress; lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and calcium influx. In this study; we investigated the molecular mechanisms of apoptosis induced by NPe6-PDT in ASTC-a-1 cells. The results showed that the activities of ASK1 increased in response to NPe6-PDT. Over-expression of wild-type or activated mutant of ASK1 could obviously decrease cell viability and increase cell death; while inhibition of ASK1 significantly decreased cell apoptosis. These results suggested that ASK1 plays an important role in apoptosis induced by NPe6-PDT.