Hox genes are crucial determinants of cell fates and of body morphology of animals; mutations affecting these genes result in abnormal patterns of programmed cell death. How Hox genes regulate programmed cell death is an important and poorly understood aspect of normal development. In the nematode C. elegans, the Hox gene mab-5 is required for the programmed cell deaths of two lineally related ...

Plant development involves the elimination of cell organelles, protoplasts, tissues and organs. Programmed cell death is a process aimed at the removal of redundant, misplaced or damaged cells and maintenance of multicellular organisms. In contrast to the relatively well-described cell death pathway in animals, often referred to as apoptosis, mechanisms and regulation of plant programmed cell d...

The C. elegans gene ced-4 is essential for programmed cell death. We report that ced-4 encodes two transcripts and that whereas the major transcript can cause programmed cell death, the minor transcript can act oppositely and prevent programmed cell death, thus defining a novel class of cell death inhibitors. That ced-4 has both cell-killing and cell-protective functions is consistent with prev...

Similar to other parts of the central nervous system, there are two types of programmed cell death during retinal development. In early development, the neuronal progenitor population is affected. In the mouse eye, this kind of programmed cell death begins at around embryonic day (E) 12.5 and peaks between E14.5 and E16.5. The second phase of programmed cell death occurs during synaptogenesis w...

Malignant tumor cells are equipped with mechanisms that can help them escape the surveillance by host immune system. Immune checkpoint molecules can transduce coinhibitory signals to immunocompetent cells and exert immunosuppressive roles in antitumor immunity. Programmed death-1 (PD-1) and programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) are the two important checkpoint molecules with great potential in targ...