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Journal ArticleDOI

Caspases: Enemies Within

Nancy A. Thornberry, +1 more
- 28 Aug 1998 - 
- Vol. 281, Iss: 5381, pp 1312-1316
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TLDR
This work has shown that understanding caspase regulation is intimately linked to the ability to rationally manipulate apoptosis for therapeutic gain.
Abstract
Apoptosis, an evolutionarily conserved form of cell suicide, requires specialized machinery. The central component of this machinery is a proteolytic system involving a family of proteases called caspases. These enzymes participate in a cascade that is triggered in response to proapoptotic signals and culminates in cleavage of a set of proteins, resulting in disassembly of the cell. Understanding caspase regulation is intimately linked to the ability to rationally manipulate apoptosis for therapeutic gain.

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Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI

The hallmarks of cancer.

TL;DR: This work has been supported by the Department of the Army and the National Institutes of Health, and the author acknowledges the support and encouragement of the National Cancer Institute.
Journal ArticleDOI

The biochemistry of apoptosis

TL;DR: The basic components of the death machinery are reviewed, how they interact to regulate apoptosis in a coordinated manner is described, and the main pathways that are used to activate cell death are discussed.
Journal ArticleDOI

Death receptors: signaling and modulation

Avi Ashkenazi, +1 more
- 28 Aug 1998 - 
TL;DR: Apoptosis is a cell suicide mechanism that enables metazoans to control cell number in tissues and to eliminate individual cells that threaten the animal's survival.
Journal ArticleDOI

The Bcl-2 Protein Family: Arbiters of Cell Survival

TL;DR: Bcl-2 and related cytoplasmic proteins are key regulators of apoptosis, the cell suicide program critical for development, tissue homeostasis, and protection against pathogens.
Journal ArticleDOI

Cell Death: Critical Control Points

TL;DR: The identification of critical control points in the cell death pathway has yielded fundamental insights for basic biology, as well as provided rational targets for new therapeutics.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI

Apoptosis: a basic biological phenomenon with wide-ranging implications in tissue kinetics.

TL;DR: Apoptosis seems to be involved in cell turnover in many healthy adult tissues and is responsible for focal elimination of cells during normal embryonic development, and participates in at least some types of therapeutically induced tumour regression.
Journal ArticleDOI

Mitochondria and apoptosis

TL;DR: A variety of key events in apoptosis focus on mitochondria, including the release of caspase activators (such as cytochrome c), changes in electron transport, loss of mitochondrial transmembrane potential, altered cellular oxidation-reduction, and participation of pro- and antiapoptotic Bcl-2 family proteins.
Journal ArticleDOI

Death receptors: signaling and modulation

Avi Ashkenazi, +1 more
- 28 Aug 1998 - 
TL;DR: Apoptosis is a cell suicide mechanism that enables metazoans to control cell number in tissues and to eliminate individual cells that threaten the animal's survival.
Journal ArticleDOI

Induction of apoptotic program in cell-free extracts : requirement for datp and cytochrome c

TL;DR: Cells undergoing apoptosis in vivo showed increased release of cy tochrome c to their cytosol, suggesting that mitochondria may function in apoptosis by releasing cytochrome c.
Journal ArticleDOI

A caspase-activated DNase that degrades DNA during apoptosis, and its inhibitor ICAD

TL;DR: A caspase-activated deoxyribonuclease (CAD) and its inhibitor (ICAD) have now been identified in the cytoplasmic fraction of mouse lymphoma cells and seems to function as a chaperone for CAD during its synthesis, remaining complexed with CAD to inhibit its DNase activity.
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