Cathepsin X is a cysteine peptidase that by proteolytic cleavage of the C-terminal dipeptide of the glycolytic enzyme γ-enolase, abolishes its neurotrophic activity. In this way, it is indirectly involved in the mechanisms of neuronal cell differentiation. As part of the Master's thesis, we determined protein level and activity of cathepsin X in the process of neuroblastoma cell differentiation, and defined the role of cathepsin X in the differentiation process. In the first part of the Master's thesis, we set up a model of differentiation of SH-SY5Y cells, whereby we wanted to stimulate the formation of a specific neuronal phenotype with the differentiation conditions. First, we showed that stimulation of SH-SY5Y cells with retinoic acid (RA) at a concentration of 10 and 20 µM increases neurite outgrowth, which is characteristic of differentiated cells. Neurite outgrowth is also increased when cells are stimulated with RA in combination with phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) or brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which induce differentiating into a specific neuronal phenotype, dopaminergic or cholinergic, respectively. We showed that RA independently or in combination with BDNF promotes F-actin polymerization, which affects actin cytoskeleton reorganization, a process that is crucial for neuronal differentiation, while addition of PMA inhibits RA-stimulated polymerization. With the use of specific neuronal markers, we partially confirmed the formation of an individual neuronal phenotype. In the following, we showed that the activity of cathepsin X is increased in differentiated cells treated with RA alone, as well as with RA in combination with PMA or BDNF. Likewise, the protein level of cathepsin X is increased in cells differentiated towards to dopaminergic and cholinergic phenotypes. In accordance with the protein level, in cells differentiated with RA in combination with PMA or BDNF increased cathepsin X fluorescence intensity was also observed. Localization of cathepsin X was noticeable in the growth cones and extensions that are formed during the differentiation of SH-SY5Y cells, as well as co-localization of cathepsin X with γ-enolase in the growth zones of neurites in differentiated cells was determined. In the last part, we confirmed the involvement of cathepsin X in differentiation by determining the effect of cathepsin X inhibition on the differentiation process. We used the irreversible cathepsin X inhibitor AMS36. Due to the visible changes in cell morphology and the increase in neurite outgrowth in the presence of the inhibitor, we can conclude that inhibition of cathepsin X promotes further differentiation, which indicates the importance of proteolytic regulation of γ-enolase in the differentiation process of neuronal cells.
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