Apoptose

SUMMARYApoptosis, or programmed cell death, is a general and physiologic mechanism of cell death, with distinct morphological characteristics, whose basic mechanisms may be conserved in evolution since invertebrates. Since its description in tumours, over 20 years ago, a large number of investigations have implied apoptosis in several aspects of immunology, of the inflammatory response and in the control of viral replication and tumour growth. It is now well established that the products of several tumour supressor genes and oncogenes regulate a poptosis, and that the success of several anti-cancer treatments depend on apoptosis induction in tumour cells. The author addresses the basic morphological and biochemical characteristics of apoptosis and its impact in the understanding of the cellular and molecular biology of lung inflammatory, infectious and tumoural pathology