Elevated calpain activity in acute myelogenous leukemia correlates with decreased calpastatin expression.

ABSTRACT: Calpains are intracellular cysteine proteases that have crucial roles in many physiological and pathological processes. Elevated calpain activity has been associated with many pathological states. Calpain inhibition can be protective or lethal depending on the context. Previous work has shown that c-myc transformation regulates calpain activity by suppressing calpastatin, the endogenous negative regulator of calpain. Here, we have investigated calpain activity in primary acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) blast cells. Calpain activity was heterogeneous and greatly elevated over a wide range in AML blast cells, with no correlation to FAB classification. Activity was particularly elevated in the CD34+CD38- enriched fraction compared with the CD34+CD38+ fraction. Treatment of the cells with the

SUBMITTER: Niapour M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3270254 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature