The role of apoptotic cell death in cardiovascular disease

Background Programmed cell death, or apoptosis, is a distinct, managed form of cell death. It is fundamentally different from necrosis. It is a geneti cally controlled, energy-dependent method of cellular deletion without infl ammation. In the cardiovascular system, apoptosis occurs as a primary and s econdary event in disease pathogenesis. This review addresses our current u nderstanding of the initiation, propagation and significance of apoptosis i n the cardiovascular system, as well as assessing therapeutic potentials ar ising therefrom. Methods A Medline search was performed and relevant publications reviewed. Further articles were obtained from the references of these publications. Results and conclusions Apoptotic cell death is a key element in the pathog enesis and progression of ischaemia-reperfusion (IR) injury, cardiac failur e, myocardial infarction, atherosclerosis, endothelial dysfunction and the clinical syndromes which these situations produce. Our increased understand ing of the role of apoptosis in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular disease offers potential to develop new therapeutic strategies.