Mitochondria and apoptosis: emerging concepts

As mitochondria are the powerhouses of the cell, their damage during the cell suicide process of apoptosis is essentially responsible for cellular demise in most cells. A key family of proteins, the B-cell lymphoma-2 (BCL-2) family, determines the integrity of mitochondria in the face of apoptotic insult. A comprehensive understanding of the molecular details of how apoptosis is initiated and how it culminates is essential if apoptosis is to fulfil its undoubted potential as a therapeutic target to treat diseases ranging from cancer to neurodegenerative conditions. Recent advances have provided significant insight into the control of this fundamental process while prompting a re-evaluation of what was considered dogma in the field. Emerging evidence also points to a potential overarching control network that governs not only apoptosis but other fundamental mitochondrial processes, including mitochondrial fission/fusion and quality control.

• Publication year

  2015

• Venue

  F1000Prime Reports

• Publication date

  2015-04-01

• Fields of study

  Biology, Medicine

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.12703/P7-42PMID 26097715PMCID 4447032
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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