Vaux D L, Strasser A
Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Victoria, Australia.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1996 Mar 19;93(6):2239-44. doi: 10.1073/pnas.93.6.2239.
All multicellular organisms have mechanisms for killing their own cells, and use physiological cell death for defence, development, homeostasis, and aging. Apoptosis is a morphologically recognizable form of cell death that is implemented by a mechanism that has been conserved throughout evolution from nematode to man. Thus homologs of the genes that implement cell death in nematodes also do so in mammals, but in mammals the process is considerably more complex, involving multiple isoforms of the components of the cell death machinery. In some circumstances this allows independent regulation of pathways that converge upon a common end point. A molecular understanding of this mechanism may allow design of therapies that either enhance or block cell death at will.
所有多细胞生物都有杀死自身细胞的机制,并利用生理性细胞死亡来进行防御、发育、维持体内平衡和衰老过程。细胞凋亡是一种在形态上可识别的细胞死亡形式,其通过一种从线虫到人类在整个进化过程中都保守的机制来实现。因此,在线虫中实现细胞死亡的基因同源物在哺乳动物中也有同样作用,但在哺乳动物中这个过程要复杂得多,涉及细胞死亡机制各组分的多种异构体。在某些情况下,这允许对汇聚于共同终点的通路进行独立调节。对这一机制的分子层面理解可能有助于设计出随意增强或阻断细胞死亡的疗法。