Chapter category: Apoptosis

Caspase-Independent Cell Death Mechanisms

This chapter appears in the following book:

Caspases: Their Role in Cell Death and Cell Survival

Edited by: Marek Los and Henning Walczak
ISBN: 0-306-47441-7
» Get more information about this book at landesbioscience.com «

Chapter authors:
Donat Kögeland Jochen H. M. Prehn

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Almost 30 years ago, Kerr and co-workers proposed the existence of an intrinsic cell death program and introduced the term apoptosis for the execution of this program.¹ Apoptosis is an active form of cell death enabling individual cells to commit suicide. In contrast, necrosis is a passive form of cell death induced by accidental damage of tissue and does not encompass activation of any specific cellular program during the death process. Initial classification of cell death into the apoptosis/necrosis dichotomy was mainly based on morphological criteria: hallmarks of apoptosis include membrane blebbing, cell shrinkage and chromatin condensation/fragmentation whereas necrosis typically is associated with early loss of plasma membrane integrity and swelling of the cell body. In recent years, significant progress has been made identifying key components of the apoptotic cell death machinery and deciphering the signaling pathways in which they are embedded. It is generally accepted that members of the caspase family of proteases are central executioners of apoptotic cell death (see other chapters of this book). For many years, apoptosis was thought to be a synonym for programmed cell death (PCD)*. However, an increasing number of studies substantiate the existence of caspase-independent forms of PCD. The initial model describing only one, stereotypical form of active cell death today is viewed as an oversimplification, because it is now generally accepted that multiple forms of PCD exist and that some forms of PCD do not require activation of caspases (Fig. 1). One single execution system, i.e., the caspases, could easily be overcome by viruses and transformed cells. Hence, alternative cell death pathways, acting as backup pathways, might have evolved during evolution.² This chapter will focus on the current cognoscenti of caspase-independent forms of PCD. (* The term programmed cell death was initially reserved for developmental cell death. It will be used interchangeably with active cell death in this chapter.)

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Chapter category: Apoptosis

Caspase-Independent Cell Death Mechanisms

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