APOPTOSIS AND ITS ROLE IN HUMAN-DISEASE

In a landmark paper published over two decades ago, Kerr et al. propos ed the term apoptosis ''for a hitherto little recognized mechanism of controlled cell, deletion, which appears to play a complementary but o pposite role to mitosis in the regulation of animal cell populations'' (1). In the ensuing years,this natural cell death process was studied at the basic science level, primarily with a view to understanding its roles in cancer and in the development and maintenance off the immune system. More recently, however, evidence has suggested a role for the failure of normal apoptosis control in many of the major diseases of the industrialized world. Though complex, apoptosis appears amenable t o therapeutic intervention. The range of modern pharmaceutical strateg ies available to treat such disregulated gene-directed processes offer s promise for advances in the control of cancer, immune system and neu rodegenerative disorders, heart disease, and perhaps even the aging pr ocess itself.