The Bcl-2 gene family and apoptosis.

Apoptosis, or programmed cell death, is an essential process for normal embryonic development, maintaining homeostasis in adult tissues, and suppressing carcinogenesis. The bcl-2 protein, discovered in association with follicular lymphoma, plays a prominent role in controlling apoptosis and enhancing cell survival in response to diverse apoptotic stimuli. The evolutionarily conserved bcl-2 protein is now recognized as being a member of a family of related proteins which can be categorized as death agonists or death antagonists. Progress in defining the role of bcl-2 and its family members in regulating apoptosis is rapidly advancing. This review describes, in detail, current bcl-2 family members and the possible mechanisms of function which allow the bcl-2 family of proteins to either promote or suppress cell death.