Involvement of a CrmA-insensitive ICE/Ced-3-like protease in ceramide-induced apoptosis

Ceramide has emerged as a novel lipid mediator of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-induced apoptosis. However, the signals involved in this response are unknown. The present study demonstrates that ceramide-induced internucleosomal DNA cleavage is temporally associated with proteolytic cleavage of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) and protein kinase C (PKC) delta. Overexpression of baculovirus protein p35 blocked ceramide-induced DNA fragmentation and proteolytic activity, whereas overexpression of cowpox virus protein CrmA had no effect on these events. By contrast, TNF-induced DNA cleavage and proteolytic activity was inhibited by CrmA as well as p35. These results indicate that ceramide-induced apoptosis involves the activation of a CrmA-insensitive protease that is distinct from that induced by TNF.