Ying W
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Medicine, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque 87131, USA.
Med Hypotheses. 1998 May;50(5):393-8. doi: 10.1016/s0306-9877(98)90211-0.
Apoptosis or programmed cell death (PCD) plays crucial roles in a number of physiological and pathological processes. Growing evidence has suggested that oxidative damage, altered calcium homeostasis and abnormal mitochondrial functions are three key factors of PCD. Because a number of studies have also indicated that a deleterious network is formed on the basis of the close interactions among these major apoptotic factors, it is proposed that the deleterious network is just the common pathway in PCD. A variety of apoptotic stimuli can trigger the network, leading to the characteristic apoptotic changes. This new theory--the deleterious network hypothesis of apoptosis--appears to unify some major theories of PCD, providing consistent explanations of a significantly larger number of the observations about apoptosis than other hypotheses. Based on this unifying hypothesis, it is suggested that the three major factors of the deleterious network could be targeted for treatment of multiple apoptosis-related disorders.
细胞凋亡或程序性细胞死亡（PCD）在许多生理和病理过程中发挥着关键作用。越来越多的证据表明，氧化损伤、钙稳态改变和线粒体功能异常是PCD的三个关键因素。由于许多研究还表明，在这些主要凋亡因子之间的密切相互作用的基础上形成了一个有害网络，因此有人提出，这个有害网络正是PCD的共同途径。多种凋亡刺激可以触发该网络，导致特征性的凋亡变化。这个新理论——细胞凋亡的有害网络假说——似乎统一了PCD的一些主要理论，对凋亡现象的解释比其他假说更加一致，涵盖了更多的观察结果。基于这一统一假说，有人提出，有害网络的这三个主要因素可以作为治疗多种凋亡相关疾病的靶点。
