DELETERIOUS NETWORK HYPOTHESIS OF APOPTOSIS

Apoptosis or programmed cell death (PCD) plays crucial roles in a numb er of physiological and pathological processes. Growing evidence has s uggested that oxidative damage, altered calcium homeostasis and abnorm al mitochondrial functions are three key factors of PCD. Because a num ber of studies have also indicated that a deleterious network is forme d on the basis of the close interactions among these major apoptotic f actors, it is proposed that the deleterious network is just the common pathway in PCD. A variety of apoptotic stimuli can trigger the networ k, leading to the characteristic apoptotic changes. This new theory-th e deleterious network hypothesis of apoptosis-appears to unify some ma jor theories of PCD, providing consistent explanations of a significan tly larger number of the observations about apoptosis than other hypot heses. Based on this unifying hypothesis, it is suggested that the thr ee major factors of the deleterious network could be targeted for trea tment of multiple apoptosis-related disorders.