APOPTOSIS UPDATE - TO BE, OR NOT TO BE, AND HOW TO ARRANGE THE LATTER

It has become accepted that cell death is an essential mechanism for t he maintenance of an animal's health. But how do cells know when they should die, and how do they do it? A recent conference titled ''Progra mmed Cell Death'' was held by the American Association For Cancer Rese arch in Bolton Landing, New York state, USA, on October 19-23, 1996, w hich focused on the signals that push a cell towards its own self-dest ruction, and also on the biochemical tools used by these cells in maki ng this ultimate sacrifice. The molecular vocabulary of programmed cel l death is only recently being deciphered. At the heart of programmed cell death exists at least one intrinsic program for committing cell s uicide, although it is still unclear if there is only one [3]. If only one program exists, it probably contains multiple branches, overlappi ng pathways, and redundant molecular interactions. One item is clear, however: there exist many mechanisms for inducing cells to suicide.