Optimization of Experimental Variables Influencing Apoptosome Biosensor in HEK293T Cells

The apoptotic protease-activating factor 1 (Apaf-1) split luciferase biosensor has been used as a biological tool for the detection of early stage of apoptosis. The effect of doxorubicin in a cell-based assay and the addition of cytochrome <i>c</i> and ATP in a cell-free system have been...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Azarakhsh Oladzad, Maryam Nikkhah, Saman Hosseinkhani
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2020-03-01
Series:Sensors
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/20/6/1782
Description
Summary:The apoptotic protease-activating factor 1 (Apaf-1) split luciferase biosensor has been used as a biological tool for the detection of early stage of apoptosis. The effect of doxorubicin in a cell-based assay and the addition of cytochrome <i>c</i> and ATP in a cell-free system have been used to test the functionality of the reporter for the detection of apoptosome formation. Here, our data established a drug- and cytochrome <i>c</i>/ATP-independent way of apoptosis induction relying on the expression of the biosensor itself to induce formation of apoptosome. Overexpression of Apaf-1 constructs led to increased split luciferase activity and caspase-3 activity in the absence of any drug treatment. Caspase-3 activity was significantly inhibited when caspase-9DN was co-overexpressed, while the activity of the Apaf1 biosensor was significantly increased. Our results show that the Apaf-1 biosensor does not detect etoposide-induced apoptosis.
ISSN:1424-8220