APOPTOSIS

Apoptosis is regarded as a carefully regulated energy dependent process, characterized by specific morphological and biochemical features in which caspase activation plays a central role. Although many of the key apoptotic proteins that are activated or inactivated in the apoptotic pathways have been identified, the molecular mechanisms of action or activation of these proteins are not fully understood and are the focus of continued research. The importance of understanding the mechanistic machinery of apoptosis is vital because programmed cell death is a component of both health and disease, being initiated by various physiologic and pathologic stimuli. Moreover, the widespread involvement of apoptosis in the pathophysiology of disease lends itself to therapeutic intervention at many different checkpoints. Understanding the mechanisms of apoptosis, and other variants of programmed cell death, at the molecular level provides deeper insight into various disease processes and may thus influence therapeutic strategy. Apoptosis is an exceedingly complicated phenomenon, with energy-dependent flow of molecular events accomplished by two types of pathways such as intrinsic and extrinsic.