Preface: Mechanisms of Cell Death 2000 (original) (raw)

Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, 2008

Cell death was observed and understood since the 19th century, but there was no experimental examination until the mid-20th century. Beginning in the 1960s, several laboratories demonstrated that cell death was biologically controlled (programmed) and that the morphology was common and not readily explained (apoptosis). By 1990, the genetic basis of programmed cell death had been established, and the first components of the cell death machinery (caspase 3, bcl-2, and Fas) had been identified, sequenced, and recognized as highly conserved in evolution. The rapid development of the field has given us substantial understanding of how cell death is achieved. However, this knowledge has made it possible for us to understand that there are multiple pathways to death and that the commitment to die is not the same as execution. A cell that has passed the commitment stage but is blocked from undergoing apoptosis will die by another route. We still must learn much more about how a cell commits to death and what makes it choose a path to die.

Mechanistic paradigms of cell death - revisited

Journal of Environmental Biology, 2021

Present review is the description of a journey that originates from Virchows' cell theory and terminates with the role of molecular switches in cell death recently proposed by Orrenius. Landmark discoveries made, in between, to characterize regulated as well as accidental cell death have also been documented. It embraces the studies that were made in early nineties to understand cellular homeostasis in health and disease. Furthermore, the effects of foreign chemicals on different cell types witnessed in late nineties have been classified into necrosis, apoptosis, autophagy etc. Since it is important to know how a cell dies, studies made in our own and other laboratories on the role of reactive oxygen species, oxidative stress, intracellular Ca2+ homeostasis, redox imbalance, mitochondrial and ER stress in cell death have also been reviewed. Possibility of a cross talk amongst these mechanisms has also been examined. It discusses the impact of wonder molecules like CYP450, GSH, m...

One-half century (or more) of study of cell death: origins, present, and perhaps future

2023

The concept of biological cell death-that is, cell death that is neither accidental nor chaotic-has existed and has been obvious since at least the beginning of the 20th C, but it was noticed by other than specialists apt choices of words that caught the spirit of the time, "programmed cell death" and "apoptosis" caught the attention of a wider range of scientists. Then, by the early 1990s the recognition of at least two genes that were important to cancer and other diseases by controlling cell death (p53, Bcl-2, and Fas); recognition that cell death could be controlled by a highly conserved family of proteases; and the development of rapid and easy means of measuring cell death, led to the explosion of the field as a subject of research. Today we recognize many variations on the theme of biological cell death, but many mysteries remain. The most important of these remaining mysteries is that we recognize many of the penultimate and ultimate steps to kill cells, but it is rarely clear how and why these steps are activated. Most likely they are activated by an interaction of several metabolic steps, but we will need more high-powered analysis to determine how this interaction functions.

Cell Death: a Molecular Perspective

Current Molecular Biology Reports

One of the vital aspects of a cell is cell death to continue their normal cell turnover, propagation, proper development, and the maintenance of the immune system. Cell death is an essential process in the body as it promotes the removal of unwanted cells. It is the programmed culling of cells in entire eukaryotic development processes to survive and progress for the next generation. Molecular aberration in the process of apoptosis may have pathological manifestations, including cancer, neurodegenerative disorders, autoimmune disease, and ischemic damage. Classically, cell death is categorized primarily into four different types: apoptosis, autophagy, necrosis, and entosis; depending on cellular and molecular signatures governing the pathway involved. The purpose of this review is to compare and contrast the recent literature on cell death and to familiarize with the current state of knowledge on this topic. In summary, the hallmarks of various modes of cell death are thoroughly explained along with the other types of cell death such as ferroptosis, pyroptosis, necroptosis, and lysosomal-dependent cell death.

20 Years of Cell Death - Chapter15.pdf

The ability of hosts to trigger cell death upon virus infection, especially apoptosis, is key in limiting the extent of viral propagation and damage to the organism. Many viruses through their own proteins have evolved around this hurdle by adapting their life cycles around the process of cell death where some viruses reproduce favorably when the infected cells are killed. It is generally accepted that most human viruses play with the cell death pathways, depending on the cells infected. Common targets of virus-induced cell death (apoptosis mostly) are cells of the immune system, and this can even determine the outcome and severity of viral infection. Viruses that reproduce less in cells that activate cell death pathways have viral proteins that turn on stress response signaling like autophagy to prolong the life of their host as viruses are produced. We also have our disposal knowledge about individual viral proteins (and in some cases, specific domains) inducing or inhibiting cell death pathways (apoptosis, autophagy) in different cells. Induction or repression of various cell survival pathways, therefore, plays an important role in viral pathogenicity apart from the canonical stress pathways. A better understanding of the signaling pathways that viruses affect to kill or protect the infected cells will allow for the development of new antiviral therapies. This review focuses on key cell death and survival pathways manipulated during influenza, dengue and chikungunya infection, with special emphasis on the role of viral proteins, thus exploring the chance of using them for therapeutics.

Cell death beyond worms, flies and humans: unusual model systems for cell death research

Apoptosis, 2010

Since the discovery of apoptosis as a form of programmed cell death that is pivotal for development, differentiation, the immune response, and tumor suppression-to name just the most important functions-the use of non-mammalian model systems for the study of the molecular pathways important in cell death has been of invaluable benefit. Hence, the study of animals that can be comparatively easily genetically and/or experimentally manipulated, in particular of C. elegans and D. melanogaster, has enabled the detection of novel principles and mechanisms of cell death that are relevant for human physiology and clinical applications within a short and highly productive timeframe.