Apoptosis also known as cell suicide or “ programmed cell death” is a mechanism of the multicellular organisms that maintain the homeostasis of the lymphocytes (immune cells) and eliminates damaged or anneeded cells. We have learned in our Bio440 class that human body makes 100 million lymphocytes each day and that this process is absolutely necessary for the control of the number of immune cells. In this critical feature of clonal delution and self tolerance surviving lymphocyte will only respond to foreign antigens and not to autoantigens.
However, this short video clip shows that apoptosis is involved in development of many cancers. The key mediator of disruption of that mechanism and mutations of the cells is the P53 tumor suppressor gene that causes excessive cell growth and tumorogenesis. These cell mutations disrupt the natural suicide response and can cause cancer cells to develop resistance to both radiotherapy and chemotherapy.
http://www.researchapoptosis.com/apoptosis/multimedia/videos/video2/index.m
This animation was relevant to what we have learned in our BIOL 440 class. It shows how production of massive antibodies is controlled through Apoptosis. This is a important feature that helps in building self tolerance to the antibodies.
ReplyDelete