Proceedings of International Conference on Cell Death in Cancer and Toxicology

2018 Cancer Medicine  
Apoptotic cells can produce signals to instruct cells in their local environment, including factors that stimulate proliferation. This apoptosis-induced proliferation has been shown to play important roles in tissue regeneration, tumor growth and relapse. We recently identified a novel mode of communication by which apoptotic cells induce additional apoptosis in the same tissue. To investigate the role of apoptosis-induced apoptosis during development we studied the coordinated cell death that
more » ... ccurs in the adult wing of Drosophila. We observe a non-autonomous effect upon inhibition of apoptosis in the wing, suggesting there is a communication between dying cells to achieve synchronized cell death. Our results indicate there might be a wave of apoptosis traveling from the posterior compartment towards the anterior. Surprisingly, TNF and JNK pathways are not involved in this propagation of apoptosis, suggesting a different mechanism for apoptotic signaling in developmental and stress situations. Mitochondria are highly dynamic organelles that play fundamental roles in pivotal cellular processes including energy production/metabolism, calcium homeostasis, and apoptosis. In our lab we are specifically interested in understanding how these different mitochondrial processes are regulated/coordinated to determine the fate of our cells. Many of our studies are focused on a novel mitochondrial protein named MTCH2 that acts as a receptor for the pro-apoptotic BID protein. Interestingly, conditional knockout of MTCH2 in several different mouse tissues results in significant alterations to mitochondria function and structure leading to changes in cell fate and disease outcome. A better understanding of MTCH2's mechanism of action will likely uncover hidden connections between the many functions of mitochondria.
doi:10.1002/cam4.1413 pmid:29460395 pmcid:PMC5818345 fatcat:f46iyzk245hs5insujm5frfsgq