APOPTOSIS - A KEY REGULATORY PROCESS IN GLOMERULONEPHRITIS

Apoptosis is a physiological, ''programmed'' form of cell death. This article sets out the case that apoptosis is a key regulatory process i n glomerulonephritis. There is now abundant evidence that this type of cell death occurs in glomerular disease, where it may serve to clear away ''unwanted'' cells during resolution of glomerular injury. Apopto sis is regulated by proteins both exogenous and endogenous to the dyin g cell. Therefore, there is intense interest in defining genetic contr ols on glomerular cell death, which can operate to trigger apoptosis o r promote cell survival. However, apoptosis can have a ''dark side'', and may mediate undesirable cell loss in some disease processes. Clear ly, the full regulatory potential of apoptosis will only become appare nt with further work on the cell biology of glomerulonephritis.