Our cells undergo many situations where possible endangerments could occur, including chemicals, viruses, and ionizing radiation. If cells are damaged in sensitive places by these particular influences, the effects can be detrimental. For instance, if key regulatory elements are impaired, the regulatory controls in regards to cell growth or proliferation may be disrupted and the cell has the potential to rapidly multiply and becoming tumorigenic. Both apoptosis and autophagy are highly conserved processes that in addition to their role in maintenance of organismal and cellular homeostasis are considered relevant therapeutic targets not only for tumor treatment but a lot of other know diseases like Alzheimer’s disease.
Apoptosis is a tightly regulated set of cellular events which are associated with biochemical and morphological changes. The word "apoptosis" in Greek has the meaning of "dropping off" or "falling off" of petals from flowers, or the leaves from trees. When suicidal machinery is activated within the cell it leads to fragmentation of DNA, shrinkage of the cytoplasm, membrane changes, and finally to cell death without any damage to neighboring cells. The two main apoptotic pathways are (1) the death receptor pathway involving the initiator caspase 8 and (2) the mitochondrial pathway involving the initiator caspase 9. However sometimes apoptosis can be a beneficial mechanism, for an example during gestation. Syndactyly (webbed feet) occurs when apoptosis or programmed cell death during gestation is absent or incomplete. Thus, apoptosis is a normal phenomenon occurring frequently in a multicellular organism, thereby playing an essential role in organism survival.
There are two major pathways that contribute to apopto...
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...hat viruses have accomplished this goal by binding to Beclin 1 via Bcl-2-like proteins. The herpesvirus-encoded Beclin 1 antagonists, including the viral Bcl-2 molecules and HSV-1, inhibit autophagosome formation, whereas HIV-1 Nef and influenza M2 inhibit autophagosome maturation.
It has been established the connection between Bcl-2 with p53 along with its interaction with Beclin 1. This suggests that Bcl-2 could be a possible connection/target between the crosstalk of autophagy and apoptosis. Beclin 1 functions in the lysosomal degradation pathway of autophagy and induces autophagic cell death in cancer cells. Where as Bcl-2/Bcl-xL can bind Beclin 1 and inhibit Beclin 1-dependent autophagic cell death in cancer cells along with suppress p53-dependent and independent cell death. Further studies to elucidate this mechanistic crosstalk are pronounced necessary.
Euthanasia is one of the most complicated issues in the medical field due to the debate of whether or not it is morally right. Today, the lives of many patients can be saved with the latest discoveries in medicine and technology. But we are still unable to find cures to all illnesses, and patients have to go through extremely painful treatments only to live a little bit longer. These patients struggle with physical and psychological pain. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. discusses the topic of just and unjust laws in his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” which brings into question whether it is just to kill a patient who is suffering or unjust to take that person’s life even if that person is suffering. In my opinion people should have the right, with certain restrictions, to end their lives in the way they see fit if they are suffering from endless pain.
Q1.The cell cycle is the series of events which occur in a cell leading to its division and replication.
Starvation, suffocation with a plastic bag, carbon monoxide and lethal doses of drugs are some way to die practiced by euthanasia. In definition, euthanasia is the option that some people choose to end his/her life when living becomes too unbearable for them. Tough Euthanasia is mostly asked by the person who wants to die; there are some cases where the person does not is even conscious of his/her death, such cases are typically seen with persons in the vegetative state. Some people do not agree with the practice of involuntary Euthanasia; they argue against this process labeling it as a crime. While opponents may think this is an action against the law because it takes away the life of someone without his/her consent, other people opt to consider
... over normal proliferating cells (Figure 1) It is important to target events taking place at the same time in the cell cycle in order to boost effectiveness of the arrest and the results. In addition, it is important to characterize tumors precisely in order to clarify where the deficiencies on the cell cycle control are accrued and which of the phases have to be targeted for successful therapy. Furthermore, in the future, identification of new tumor specific isoenzymes will be necessary to characterize the cell cycle accurately and comprehend the differences between normal cells and cancer cells for the design of novel anticancer therapies (Diaz-Moralli, et al. 2013).
The cell cycle is the process by which cells progress and divide. In normal cells, the cell cycle is controlled by a complex series of signaling pathways by which a cell grows, replicates it’s DNA and divides, these are called proto-oncogenes. A proto-oncogene is a normal gene that could become an oncogene due to mutations. This process has mechanisms to ensure that errors are corrected, if they are not, the cells commit suicide (apoptosis). This process is tightly regulated by the genes within a cell’s nucleus. In cancer, as a result of genetic mutations, this process malfunctions, resulting in uncontrolled cell proliferation. Mutations in proto-oncogene or in a tumour suppressor gene allow a cancerous cell to grow and divide without the normal control imposed by the cell cycle. A change in the DNA sequence of the proto-oncogene gives rise to an oncogene, which
The article begins by stating that the tumor suppressor p53 has great importance in the prevention of cancer growth and expansion. Although cancer is the most spoken about topic and p53’s significance against it, p53 also has a hand in ischemia, neurodegeneration, and ageing. While this tumor suppressor seems to be very busy it also regulates the repair of DNA and death of the cell, just to name a few. The activity of p53 can be seen when binding to the DNA at target sequences for transcription. It was pointed out that the doings of p53 are not designated to the nucleus such as other transcription factors as determined over time. Further mentioned in the introduction is a statement that lists this as the most studied mechanism while also related to the material covered in class is apoptosis. P53 inducts apoptosis in the by intrinsic mitochondria-mediated pathway, also transcriptionally through pro-apoptotic parts of the pathway, and in a transcription–independent way which has been recently been looked further into. As if the roles above were not plentiful enough cytoplasmic p53 is also thought to influence autophagy, movement of vesicles, signal transduction, cell metabolism and possibly stem cell expansion, but all are truly determined. Towards the end of the introductory section the authors state that there are still many mechanisms of cytoplasmic p53’s activation leading to apoptosis that are uncertain as well as some p53 missense mutants that lead to oncogenesis. The authors express that the article mainly will speak about the proper or improper activities performed by p53 on the mechanism in the cytoplasm while also looking for areas where beneficial treatments may be used.
The Phase I trial will be discussed here as it pertains to the topic at hand. The typical treatment for cervical cancer if surgery is not a viable option – like if the cancer has spread, then called locally advanced cervical cancer – is chemotherapy and radiation treatment at the same time. This phase I clinical trial is simply looking to add ipilimumab to this regimen, but once the chemo/radiation has been completed (LACC article). Chemo and radiation destroy tumor cells, which causes tumor-associated antigens to be released. Once released, these antigens are exogenous (outside the cell) and will be presented to helper T cells to initiate an immune response.
The immune system has the important job of protecting the body from foreign invaders. It is made up of a network of cells (including white blood cells), tissue and organs. The foreign invaders the immune system fight include viruses, bacteria, microbes and pathogens. In order to stop these foreign invaders, there is a process known as immune response that attacks in three different lines of defence. Without this immune response, the body would be constantly under invasion by pathogens trying to attack and induce illness.
“The effect of protein synthesis inhibition on the entry of messenger RNA into the cytoplasm of sea urchin embryos”, Hogan and Gross. J. Cell Biol. 49(3):692-701.
The term Euthanasia is derived from Greek, meaning good death. Taken in its common usage however, euthanasia refers to the termination of a person’s life, to end their suffering, usually from an incurable or terminal condition. It is for this reason that euthanasia was also coined the name “mercy killing”. Another type of euthanasia is Active Euthanasia refers to the deliberate act, usually through the intentional administration of lethal drugs, to end an incurably or terminally ill patient’s life. ("The Ethics of Euthanasia.") The earliest recorded date of euthanasia is dated back to 5th century B.C.-1st Century B.C. In ancient Greece and Rome, before the coming of Christianity, attitudes towards active euthanasia and suicide tended to be
The immune system defends the body against foreign invaders through a sequence of steps known as the immune response. A network of organs, cells and tissues must work together in order to protect the body. The immune response can be divided into innate immunity and adaptive immunity, though these divisions are artificial and the system functions as a single unit.
Death occurs when living stops. From the event of death, we have created religious and cultural traditions. It has become the core of literature and entertainment. As a society we are somewhat fascinated by it. Healthcare practitioners fight everyday to prevent it from happening. Can this event, which is absolute, change its meaning over time?
From the start of time, life and death have been the only two components living organisms can rely on. Every living organism from the coral in the sea to a human undergoes birth, a specialized life cycle and eventually death. Life is such a broad term with so many philosophical attachments from religion to evolution. Simply put, life is the ability to grow and change. Life separates plants and animals from things like water and rocks. For this paper I will focus on the different stages of human life, death and how the advancements in technology and medicine have directly affected both.
The distinction between life and death largely relies on the current definitions of life and death. Illogically, there seems to be less disagreement about the definition of death, while the definition of life remains controversial. In a legally perfect world, the factors considered for declaration of death would be the same factors considered to define life, however, that does not appear to be the case. While the current definitions of death are fairly consistent but not free of conflict, the definition of life remains controversial.