The activation of the atypical PKC zeta in light-induced retinal degeneration and its involvement in L-DNase II control.

Imene Jaadane, Sabine Chahory, Chloé Leprêtre, Boubaker Omri, Laurent Jonet, Francine Behar-Cohen, Patricia Crisanti, Alicia Torriglia

Index: J. Cell. Mol. Med. 19 , 1646-55, (2015)

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Abstract

Light-induced retinal degeneration is characterized by photoreceptor cell death. Many studies showed that photoreceptor demise is caspase-independent. In our laboratory we showed that leucocyte elastase inhibitor/LEI-derived DNase II (LEI/L-DNase II), a caspase-independent apoptotic pathway, is responsible for photoreceptor death. In this work, we investigated the activation of a pro-survival kinase, the protein kinase C (PKC) zeta. We show that light exposure induced PKC zeta activation. PKC zeta interacts with LEI/L-DNase II and controls its DNase activity by impairing its nuclear translocation. These results highlight the role of PKC zeta in retinal physiology and show that this kinase can control caspase-independent pathways. © 2015 The Authors. Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd and Foundation for Cellular and Molecular Medicine.