Increased spatiotemporal resolution of caspase activation by anchoring FRET-based sensors to cytoskeleton

Apoptosis is a highly controlled process of cell death, which is vital for maintenance of all multicellular organisms. Aberrant regulation of apoptosis can give rise to pathological conditions such as neurodegenerative diseases and cancer. Here, we used different human neuroblastoma cell lines to study mechanisms that may be involved in either neurodegeneration or resistance to cancer treatment. First, we have designed and developed tau-anchored FRET sensors (tAFSs) for live cell imaging of local caspase activation. Using these sensors we showed that the Alzheimer’s disease related neurotoxic peptide, amyloid-β, induced a global activation of caspase-3 and -6, but not -9, in neuronally differentiated SH-SY5Y cells. We also investigated the possible role of NF-κB in the resistance to tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) in different human neuroblastoma cell lines. While N-type SH-SY5Y and IMR32 cells were unaffected, S-type SK-N-AS cells were clearly sensitized to TRAIL by different NF-κB inhibitory agents. However, no correlation between NF-κB inhibition and sensitization to TRAIL could be observed. Instead, induction of reactive oxygen species (ROS) seemed to play a more important role. Furthermore, using tAFSs we also showed that TRAIL resistance in SK-N-AS cells is mainly due to incomplete activation of caspase-3, and could be reversed by different PKC inhibitors.