Advances in roles of NF-κB in regulating pathways of apoptosis / 中国药理学与毒理学杂志

ABSTRACT

Apoptosis is a process of programmed cell death that is controlled by genes. Normally, there are three regulation pathways involved in the process of apoptosis, including the signaling of intracel-lular mitochondria, endoplasmic reticula and extracellular death receptors. Recent studies showed that NF-κB is a key regulator in the process of apoptosis. NF-κB plays a promotional and a inhibitory role as well in the regulation of apoptosis, closely related to the the inhibitor of apoptosis proteins family, the B cell lymphoma/ lewkmia-2 family, tumor necrosis factor receptor associated factors, c-Jun N-terminal kinase, tumor necrosis factor related apoptosis inducing ligand and Fas-associated death domain protein-like interleukin-1β. Thus, investigation of the mechanism regarding NF-κB in apoptosis regulation is of great importance for apoptosis-related drug development. The paper reviews the recent research progress in the function of NF-κB in apoptosis pathway regulation.