Synonyms
Definition
Apoptosis is a T cell death process that occurs during development and aging of animals and humans. It is also induced by cytotoxic lymphocytes (CTL), anticancer drugs, γ- or UV-radiation, a group of cytokines called death factors, and deprivation of survival factors.
Characteristics
Apoptosis was initially characterized by morphological changes of dying cells. During apoptosis cells shrink, and microvilli on the plasma membrane disappear. The nucleus is also condensed and fragmented. At the final stage of apoptosis, the cells themselves are fragmented with all cellular contents inside. One of the biochemical hallmarks of apoptosis is the fragmentation of chromosomal DNA into nucleosome size units (180 bp).
Apoptotic cells can be recognized by staining of the condensed nuclei with fluorescence dyes Hoechst or DAPI. Apoptotic cells expose phosphatidyl-serine to the cell surface, which can be stained with fluorescently labeled...
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Nagata S (1997) Apoptosis by death factor. Cell 88:355–365
Nagata S, Golstein P (1995) The Fas death factor. Science 267:1449–1456
Raff M (1998) Cell suicide for beginners. Nature 396:119–122
Vaux DL, Korsmeyer SJ (1999) Cell death in development. Cell 96:245–254
See Also
(2012) APAF-1. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, p 231. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_344
(2012) Autoimmune Lymphoproliferative Syndrome. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, p 312. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_475
(2012) BAD. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, pp 337–338. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_519
(2012) BAK1. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, p 338. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_522
(2012) BAX. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, p 350. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_543
(2012) FAS. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, p 1379. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_2121
(2012) TUNEL. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, p 3816. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_6064
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Nagata, S. (2014). Apoptosis. In: Schwab, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Cancer. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-46875-3_361
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-46875-3_361
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