Abstract

Cell death has historically been subdivided into regulated and unregulated mechanisms. Apoptosis, a form of regulated cell death, reflects a cell's decision to die in response to cues and is executed by intrinsic cellular machinery. Unregulated cell death (often called necrosis) is caused by overwhelming stress that is incompatible with cell survival. Emerging evidence, however, suggests that these two processes do not adequately explain the various cell death mechanisms. Recent data point to the existence of multiple non-apoptotic, regulated cell death mechanisms, some of which overlap or are mutually exclusive with apoptosis. Here we examine how and why these different cell death programmes have evolved, with an eye towards new cytoprotective therapeutic opportunities.

Author affiliations

1. Tufts University, School of Medicine, Department of Biochemistry, 136 Harrison Ave., Boston, Massachusetts 02111, USA.
2. Harvard Medical School, Department of Cell Biology, 200 Longwood Ave., Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.

Correspondence to: Junying Yuan² Email: jyuan@hms.harvard.edu

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