Project 171460

Programmed cell death (PCD) is a biological process that occurs in all animals, including humans, and is important in normal development and disease. As its name suggests, PCD is the orderly destruction or killing of a cell. In normal development, the killing of cells is important to help shape developing tissues and control cell numbers. Also, the elimination of damaged cells is essential to normal development and good health. The inhibition of PCD, or the failure to kill damaged cells, can lead to cancer. Because of its important roles, it is critical to identify the components involved in PCD and understand how they function. PCD can be divided into at least two different subtypes based on the appearance of dying cells; both PCD subtypes have been implicated in cancer and other human diseases. While Type I PCD has been well studied, virtually nothing is known about Type II PCD. The main objective of our proposal is to identify and characterize components involved in Type II PCD. To do so, we will integrate cutting edge techniques with simple experimental systems. We will study in detail one component that we think functions to help regulate Type II PCD. If we can understand how cells kill themselves in normal development by Type II PCD, then we might be able to use this knowledge to kill cancer cells. This may be particularly valuable in patients where Type I PCD does not work. In summary, knowledge of the components of Type II PCD will likely reveal potential new targets or avenues of investigation for the development of novel cancer therapies.

identifying and characterizing components of Type II programmed cell death (autophagy)