Diverse stimuli initiate the activation of apoptotic signalling pathways in the cell that often causes nuclear DNA fragmentation. Here we report an identification of a new anti-apoptotic protein, CIIA. CIIA inhibits both the apoptosis signal-regulatin...
Diverse stimuli initiate the activation of apoptotic signalling pathways in the cell that often causes nuclear DNA fragmentation. Here we report an identification of a new anti-apoptotic protein, CIIA. CIIA inhibits both the apoptosis signal-regulating kinase 1(ASK1) and caspase-activated DNase(CAD), thereby suppressing the c-Jun N-terminal kinase/stress-activated protein kinase pathway and CAD-mediated DNA fragmentation, respectively. Furthermore, CIIA reduces apoptotic cell death induced by tumor necrosis factor-alpha and cellular stresses. These results suggest that CIIA is a natural inhibitor of both ASK1-mediated signaling and CAD-mediated DNA fragmentation.