Molecular mechanisms of apoptosis.
Apoptosis (Programmed Cell Death) is a genetically regulated, morphologically distinct form of cell death that can be initiated by many different physiological and pathological stimuli. Such strategic intracellular programming is initiated in many instances during normal life cycle and development in order to maintain the homeostasis of a multicellular organism, to eliminate unwanted cells. However, apoptosis is also involved in a wide range of pathologic conditions, including neurodegenerative and cardiovascular diseases, cancer and autoimmune diseases. Therefore, the ability to understand and manipulate the cell death machinery is an obvious goal of medical research. Here we review the basic components of the death machinery, discuss their interaction in regulation of apoptosis, and describe the main pathways that are used to activate apoptosis.