Pancreatic ß-cell apoptosis is a key feature of diabetes mellitus and the mitochondrial pathway of apoptosis is a major mediator of ß-cell death. We presently evaluated the role of the myeloid cell leukemia sequence 1 (Mcl-1), an antiapoptotic protein of the Bcl-2 family, in ß-cells following exposure to well-defined ß-cell death effectors, for example, pro-inflammatory cytokines, palmitate and chemical endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stressors. All cytotoxic stresses rapidly and preferentially decreased Mcl-1 protein expression as compared with the late effect observed on the other antiapoptotic proteins, Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL. This was due to ER stress-mediated inhibition of translation through eIF2a phosphorylation for palmitate and ER stressors and through the combined action of translation inhibition and JNK activation for cytokines. Knocking down Mcl-1 using small interference RNAs increased apoptosis and caspase-3 cleavage induced by cytokines, palmitate or thapsigargin, whereas Mcl-1 overexpression partly prevented Bax translocation to the mitochondria, cytochrome c release, caspase-3 cleavage and apoptosis induced by the ß-cell death effectors. Altogether, our data suggest that Mcl-1 downregulation is a crucial event leading to ß-cell apoptosis and provide new insights into the mechanisms linking ER stress and the mitochondrial intrinsic pathway of apoptosis. Mcl-1 is therefore an attractive target for the design of new strategies in the treatment of diabetes.

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