Laboratory of Biology and Genetics, Medical School, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece.
Int J Gynecol Cancer. 2010 Nov;20(8):1381-5. doi: 10.1111/IGC.0b013e3181ed7896.
When apoptosis is disrupted, the transformed cells can survive, proliferate, and evolve into a malignancy. The strictly conserved caspase genes and the reliable experimental data clearly show that some caspases play a crucial role in apoptosis even if some of them have no apoptotic activity and others exhibit both apoptotic and nonapoptotic properties. Although caspase-2 belongs to initiator caspases, its normal role remains unclear. Experimental studies have shown that it is primarily necessary for the execution of apoptosis in mutagenic cells. Human caspase-5 is classified as an inflammatory caspase, although its substrate has not been identified yet. In this research, the activities of caspase-2 and caspase-5 have been estimated during the progression of human cervical malignancy.
The experimental material includes human cervical tissue samples (normal and pathological) and blood serum samples of the corresponding tissue donors, where enzyme activities have been measured colorimetrically.
Both caspases' activities showed the highest increase, statistically significant (P < 0.01, by t test) compared with the controls, in the low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion tissues. Caspase-2 of all pathological tissues was proved more active than the controls. Serum caspases' activities were significantly lower than those of the tissues. Serum caspase-2's activity in patients with low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion stage showed no statistically significant increase compared with the controls. Serum caspase-5's activity of all patients with malignancy stages was presented elevated, whereas that of the serum of patients with cervical cancer had the highest activity (P < 0.01, by t test).
The changes of caspase-2 and caspase-5 activities could be indicative of their involvement in the cervical malignancy mechanisms.
当细胞凋亡被打乱时，转化细胞可以存活、增殖，并发展为恶性肿瘤。严格保守的半胱天冬酶基因和可靠的实验数据清楚地表明，一些半胱天冬酶在凋亡中起着至关重要的作用，即使其中一些没有凋亡活性，而另一些则表现出凋亡和非凋亡的特性。尽管半胱天冬酶-2属于起始半胱天冬酶，但它的正常作用仍不清楚。实验研究表明，它主要是在致突变细胞中执行凋亡所必需的。人类半胱天冬酶-5被归类为炎症半胱天冬酶，尽管其底物尚未确定。在这项研究中，评估了人类宫颈癌进展过程中半胱天冬酶-2 和半胱天冬酶-5 的活性。
实验材料包括人宫颈组织样本（正常和病理）和相应组织供体的血清样本，其中酶活性已通过比色法进行测量。
与对照组相比，所有低级别鳞状上皮内病变组织中的两种半胱天冬酶的活性均显示出最高的增加，具有统计学意义（P < 0.01，t 检验）。所有病理组织中的半胱天冬酶-2 均被证明比对照组更活跃。血清半胱天冬酶的活性明显低于组织中的活性。低级别鳞状上皮内病变阶段患者的血清半胱天冬酶-2 活性与对照组相比无统计学显著增加。所有恶性肿瘤阶段患者的血清半胱天冬酶-5 活性均升高，而宫颈癌患者的血清半胱天冬酶-5 活性最高（P < 0.01，t 检验）。
半胱天冬酶-2 和半胱天冬酶-5 活性的变化可能表明它们参与了宫颈癌的发病机制。
