Cardiovascular remodeling, apoptosis, and drugs

Apoptosis, a form of programmed cell death, mediates the controlled deletio n of so-called "unwanted" cells. This review deals with the key features of this cell death program, showing that apoptosis is regulated by factors ex trinsic and intrinsic to the dying cell. The elucidation of the possible interactions between these factors may be o f major interest in preventing the progression to cardiovascular remodeling in patients with hypertensive disease. New pathways of research are emergi ng for drugs, such as beta-blockers, ACE inhibitors, the calcium-antagonist s, and the receptor antagonist of angiotensin II, all of which have benefic ial effects on cardiovascular remodeling. This may be due to the direct eff ect of these drugs on the cell proliferation/apoptosis balance. (C) 2000 Am erican Journal of Hypertension, Ltd.