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J. Exp. Med.,
Volume 189, Number 1, January 4, 1999 131-144
By

From the * Manitoba Institute of Cell Biology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba,
Canada R3E OV9; and the Granzyme B (GraB) is required for the efficient activation of apoptosis by cytotoxic T lymphocytes and natural killer cells. We find that GraB and perforin induce severe mitochondrial perturbation as evidenced by the release of cytochrome c into the cytosol and suppression of transmembrane potential ( Pretreatment with peptide caspase inhibitors zVAD-FMK or YVAD-CHO prevented GraB
apoptosis and cytochrome c release, whereas DEVD-CHO blocked apoptosis but did not prevent cytochrome c release, indicating that caspases act both up- and downstream of mitochondria. Of additional interest, In an in vitro cell free system, GraB activates nuclear apoptosis in S-100 cytosol at high
doses, however the addition of mitochondria amplified GraB activity over 15-fold. GraB-
induced caspase 3 processing to p17 in S-100 cytosol was increased only threefold in the presence of mitochondria, suggesting that another caspase(s) participates in the mitochondrial amplification of GraB apoptosis. We conclude that GraB-induced apoptosis is highly amplified by
mitochondria in a caspase-dependent manner but that GraB can also initiate caspase 3 processing and apoptosis in the absence of mitochondria.
Center for Blood Research, Harvard Medical School, Boston,
Massachusetts 02115

). The earliest mitochondrial event was the release of cytochrome c,
which occurred at the same time as caspase 3 processing and consistently before the activation of apoptosis. Granzyme K/perforin or perforin treatment, both of which kill target cells efficiently but are poor activators of apoptosis in short-term assays, did not induce rapid cytochrome c release. However, they suppressed 
and increased reactive oxygen species generation, indicating that mitochondrial dysfunction is also associated with this nonapoptotic cell
death.

suppression mediated by GraK or GraB and perforin was not
affected by zVAD-FMK and thus was caspase independent. Overexpression of Bcl-2 and
Bcl-XL suppressed caspase activation, mitochondrial cytochrome c release, 
suppression, and
apoptosis and cell death induced by GraB, GraK, or perforin.
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