Apoptosis is a form of programmed cell death which is mediated by cysteine proteases called caspases. It is an essential phenomenon in the maintenance of homeostasis and growth of tissues, and it also plays a critical role in immune response. The cytomorphological alterations and the key features of apoptosis are listed below:
Mediating DNA damage is a crucial process, and one of the most important cellular guards against cancer. In response to DNA damage, sophisticated cellular machinery is recruited to repair the breaks, and if it fails, the cell is committed to death.
Survivin (BRIC5) is an inhibitor of apoptosis that also promotes cellular adaptation under stressful conditions and helps to regulate cell division. Recently, an antibody study by Dr. H Wang et al. at Brown University [PMID: 20826784] found that Survivin is acetylated at lysine residue 129, thereby affecting its subsequent subcellular localization.
COX IV isoform 1 is a nuclear-encoded polypeptide chain of the Cytochrome C Oxidase enzyme, located on the mitochondrial inner membrane. Owing to its widespread distribution in human and mammalian tissues, COX IV antibodies are widely used as loading controls for immunological assays.
