Cell death and the caspase cascade.

The article by Yaoita et al in this issue of Circulation is the first of what will indubitably be many articles on the role of the caspases in cell death. This is an important event. Until 10 years ago, we could not define death at all. Instead, we relied on the process of necrosis, the decay of the cell after its death, as a way to tell us that cells had died. Typical experiments involved applying a death stimulus for different time periods and then waiting hours or days to see if the death stimulus had effected a critical “point of no return.”