Molecular mechanisms of apoptosis: an overview.

Abstract

Apoptosis (physiological cell death) has a central role in the normal development and homeostastis of all multicellular organisms. It is also used by the body’s defence system to eliminate dangerous cells, such as those that are mutated or are harbouring viruses. Deregulation of this process, resulting in either too much or too little cell death, can cause both developmental defects and a wide variety of disease states. Much of our understanding of apoptosis has come from genetic studies in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Although the mechanisms of apoptosis are highly conserved, regulation of apoptosis in higher species is more complicated and involves several large families of protein..