Redundant role of the cytochrome c-mediated intrinsic apoptotic pathway in pancreatic β-cells

Cytochrome c is one of the central mediators of the mitochondrial or the intrinsic apoptotic pathway. Mice harboring a ‘knock-in’ mutation of cytochrome c, impairing only its apoptotic function, have permitted studies on the essential role of cytochrome c-mediated apoptosis in various tissue homeostasis. To this end, we examined the role of cytochrome c in pancreatic β-cells under homeostatic conditions and in diabetes models, including those induced by streptozotocin (STZ) and c-Myc. Previous studies have shown that both STZ- and c-Myc-induced β-cell apoptosis is mediated through caspase-3 activation; however, the precise mechanism in these modes of cell death was not characterized. The results of our study show that lack of functional cytochrome c does not affect glucose homeostasis or pancreatic β-cell mass under basal conditions. Moreover, the cytochrome c-mediated intrinsic apoptotic pathway is required for neither STZ- nor c-Myc-induced β-cell death. We also observed that the extrinsic apoptotic pathway mediated through caspase-8 was not essential in c-Myc-induced β-cell destruction. These findings suggest that cytochrome c is not required for STZ-induced β-cell apoptosis and, together with the caspase-8-mediated extrinsic pathway, plays a redundant role in c-Myc-induced β-cell apoptosis.