The marine alkaloid ascididemin (ASC) was shown to exert cytotoxicity even against multidrug-resistant cancer cells. Here, we address the signaling pathways utilized by ASC to trigger apoptosis in Jurkat leukemia T cells. We show that ASC (0.5-20 microM) induces a mitochondrial pathway that requires the activation of the initiator caspase-2 upstream of mitochondria. ASC-triggered apoptosis occurred independent of CD95, but required mitochondrial dysfunction. The activation of caspase-2 was shown to precede the processing of caspase-8, -9 and -3. The specific caspase-2 inhibitor zVDVADfmk abrogated ASC-induced DNA fragmentation almost completely. Overexpression of Bcl-x(L) blocked caspase-8 but not caspase-2 processing. Conversely, caspase-2 inhibition strongly reduced caspase-9 activation. As a possible link between caspase-2 and mitochondrial dysfunction, Bid was found to be cleaved by ASC. In addition, JNK was activated by ASC upstream of mitochondria via reactive oxygen species. The specific JNK inhibitor SP600125 partially inhibited caspase-2 and -9 processing as well as cytochrome c release and DNA fragmentation indicating that JNK contributes to, but is not necessary for ASC-mediated apoptosis. Thus, ASC triggers a pathway in which early activation of caspase-2 provides a possible link between its DNA-damaging activity and the induction of mitochondrial dysfunction. The activation of JNK contributes to this signaling upstream of mitochondria.