Programmed cell death and AIDS: from hypothesis to experiment.

Here, Jean Claude Ameisen discusses new findings supporting the hypothesis that abnormal induction of programmed cell death (PCD) is relevant to AIDS pathogenesis. Recent evidence also suggests that the prevention of PCD is a factor in oncogenesis. Together, these ideas provide a framework for the reinterpretation of cell survival disorders in terms of PCD dysregulation, and suggest that in vivo control of cell signalling has wide-ranging therapeutic potential.