2. Academic Validation
  3. Naofen, a novel WD40-repeat protein, mediates spontaneous and tumor necrosis factor-induced apoptosis

Naofen, a novel WD40-repeat protein, mediates spontaneous and tumor necrosis factor-induced apoptosis

  • Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2010 Mar 26;394(1):153-7. doi: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2010.02.133.
Guo-Gang Feng 1,  Chang Li,  Lei Huang,  Koji Tsunekawa,  Yuko Sato,  Yoshihiro Fujiwara,  Tooru Komatsu,  Takashi Honda,  Jun-Hua Fan,  Hidemi Goto,  Tatsuro Koide,  Takaaki Hasegawa,  Naohisa Ishikawa
Affiliations

Affiliation

  • 1 Department of Pharmacology, Aichi Medical University School of Medicine, Nagakute, Aichi-gun, Aichi Pref 480-1195, Japan. [email protected]
PMID: 20193664 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2010.02.133
Abstract

Naofen has recently been identified from the rat brain/spinal cord cDNA library as a substance reactive against an anti-shigatoxin (Stx)-2 antibody. Naofen mRNA is composed of 4620 nucleotides and encodes 1170 Amino acids. Naofen contains four WD-repeat domains in its N-terminus and is ubiquitously distributed in many tissues of the rat. Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha enhanced the expression of naofen mRNA in HEK293 cells in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, naofen siRNA, which predominantly knocked down the expression of naofen mRNA, significantly reduced both TNF-alpha-induced Caspase-3 activation and Apoptosis in HEK293 cells. Overexpression of naofen in HEK293 cells (FLAG-NF) spontaneously induced Caspase -3 activation and Apoptosis, and showed extremely high susceptibility to TNF-alpha-induced Apoptosis. These results indicated that naofen may function as a novel modulator activating Caspase-3, and promoting TNF-alpha-stimulated Apoptosis.

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