Silencing of Bak ameliorates apoptosis of human proximal tubular epithelial cells by Escherichia coli-derived Shiga toxin 2.

Escherichia coli-derived Shiga toxin (Stx), the cause of the enteropathic hemolytic uremic syndrome, is a potent inducer of apoptotic cell death. The present study was performed to examine the hypothesis that Stx initiates apoptosis by activating the mitochondrial pathway involving mitochondrial-associated, pro-apoptotic Bcl-2 family proteins Bax and Bak. To determine if Stx2-mediated apoptosis is dependent on Bax or Bak, a gene-silencing approach was employed using sequence-specific small interfering (si)RNA duplexes. Silencing of Bax and Bak protein expression in human renal proximal tubular epithelial (HK-2) cells and its effect on Shiga toxicity was assessed by immunofluorescence microscopy and Western blotting. Transfection of HK-2 cells, shown to be exquisitely sensitive to Stx, with siRNA duplexes successfully diminished Bak, but not Bax protein expression. In order to determine if silencing of pro-apoptotic gene expression affects Stx-induced apoptosis, HK-2 cells were transfected with Bak-specific or control siRNA, exposed to lethal concentrations of Stx2 and assessed for cleavage of poly(ADPribose) polymerase-1 (PARP) as a marker of apoptosis, using Western blot technology. We observed that siRNA-induced reduction of Bak expression levels correlated with decreased PARP cleavage. Results suggest that Stx-induced cell death involves pro-apoptotic Bak and that silencing of Bak gene expression affords partial protection against Stx-mediated apoptosis.