Programmed cell death and the control of cell survival.
We draw the following tentative conclusions from our studies on programmed cell death (PCD): (i) the amount of normal cell death in mammalian development is still underestimated; (ii) most mammalian cells constitutively express the proteins required to undergo PCD; (iii) the death programme operates by default when a mammalian cell is deprived of signals from other cells; (iv) many normal cell deaths may occur because cells fail to obtain the extracellular signals they need to suppress the death programme; and (v) neither the nucleus nor mitochondrial respiration is required for PCD (or Bcl-2 protection from PCD), raising the possibility that the death programme, like mitosis, is orchestrated by a cytosolic regulator that acts on multiple organelles in parallel.
MRC Laboratory for Molecular Cell Biology, University College London, U.K.
M C
MC
Raff
B A
BA
Barres
J F
JF
Burne
H S
HS
Coles
Y
Y
Ishizaki
M D
MD
Jacobson
D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000502:physiology*; D002356:Cartilage / Q000166:cytology; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000502:physiology*; D007668:Kidney / Q000166:cytology; D007908:Lens, Crystalline / Q000166:cytology; D009836:Oligodendroglia / Q000502:physiology