Induction of Paraptosis by Cyclometalated Iridium Complex-Peptide Hybrids and CGP37157 via a Mitochondrial Ca 2+ Overload Triggered by Membrane Fusion between Mitochondria and the Endoplasmic Reticulum.

We previously reported that a cyclometalated iridium (Ir) complex-peptide hybrid (IPH) 4 functionalized with a cationic KKKGG peptide unit on the 2-phenylpyridine ligand induces paraptosis, a relatively newly found programmed cell death, in cancer cells (Jurkat cells) via the direct transport of calcium (Ca 2+ ) from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) to mitochondria. Here, we describe that CGP37157, an inhibitor of a mitochondrial sodium (Na + )/Ca 2+ exchanger, induces paraptosis in Jurkat cells via intracellular pathways similar to those induced by 4 . The findings allow us to suggest that the induction of paraptosis by 4 and CGP37157 is associated with membrane fusion between mitochondria and the ER, subsequent Ca 2+ influx from the ER to mitochondria, and a decrease in the mitochondrial membrane potential ( ΔΨ m ). On the contrary, celastrol, a naturally occurring triterpenoid that had been reported as a paraptosis inducer in cancer cells, negligibly induces mitochondria-ER membrane fusion. Consequently, we conclude that the paraptosis induced by 4 and CGP37157 (termed paraptosis II herein) proceeds via a signaling pathway different from that of the previously known paraptosis induced by celastrol, a process that negligibly involves membrane fusion between mitochondria and the ER (termed paraptosis I herein).