The novel endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-targeted protein HAP induces cell apoptosis by the depletion of the ER Ca(2+) stores.

HAP, a novel human apoptosis-inducing protein, was identified to localize exclusively to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) in our previous work. In the present work, we reported that ectopic overexpression of HAP proteins caused the rapid and sustained elevation of the intracellular cytosolic Ca(2+), which originated from the reversible ER Ca(2+) stores release and the extracellular Ca(2+) influx. The HeLa cells apoptosis induced by HAP proteins was not prevented by establishing the clamped cytosolic Ca(2+) condition, or by buffering of the extracellular Ca(2+) with EGTA, suggesting that the depletion of ER Ca(2+) stores rather than the elevation of cytosolic Ca(2+) or the extracellular Ca(2+) entry contributed to HAP-induced HeLa cells apoptosis. Caspase-3 was also activated in the process of HAP-triggered apoptotic cell death.