Physiological and pathological role of apoptosis

Apoptosis plays a crucial role in tissue homeostasis, development and many diseases. The relevance of Apaf1, the molecular core of apoptosome, has been underlined in mitochondria-dependent apoptosis, which according to a growing body of evidence, is involved in various pathologies where the equilibrium of life-and-death is dysregulated. The current chapter, besides providing an overview of the apoptotic machinery, will focus on knockout and knockin studies of key components of the apoptosis cascade, and analyses of the apoptosis dysregulation in many pathological conditions such as neurodegeneration, cancer, heart attack, autoimmune disease and virus infections.