Essentials of Apoptosis

I. Molecules and Pathways of Apoptosis.- Caspases: Activation, Regulation, and Function.- The Bcl-2 Family Proteins.- The Mammalian IAPs: Multifaceted Inhibitors of Apoptosis.- Structural Biology of Programmed Cell Death.- The Death Receptor Pathway.- The Mitochondrial Pathway: Focus on Shape Changes.- The Endoplasmic Reticulum Pathway.- Reactive Oxygen Species in Cell Fate Decisions.- The Integration of Metabolism and Cell Death.- Transcriptional Regulation of Apoptosis.- Clearance of Apoptotic Cells - Mechanisms and Consequences.- Systems Biology Approaches to the Study of Apoptosis.- II: Apoptosis in Model Organisms.- Programmed Cell Death in Plants: Apoptotic but Not Quite.- Tracing the Roots of Death: Apoptosis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.- Programmed Cell Death in C. elegans.- Cell Death in Drosophila.- III. Apoptosis in Mammalian Physiology and Pathogenesis.- Cell Death: Defining and Misshaping Mammalian Embryos.- Matters of Life and Death in the Immune System.- Cell Death in the Hematopoietic System.- Cell Death in Acute Neuronal Injury.- Apoptosis in Neurodegenerative Diseases.- Apoptosis in Cardiovascular Pathogenesis.- Apoptosis in Lung Injury and Disease.- Apoptosis in Liver Injury and Liver Diseases.- Apoptosis in Acute Kidney Injury.- Apoptosis in Cancer Biology and Cancer Therapeutics.- IV. Alternative cell death mechanisms and pathways.- Necrosis: Molecular Mechanisms and Physiological Roles.- Caspase-Independent Mitotic Death.- Lysosomal Proteases in Cell Death.- Autophagy and Cell Death.- V. Approaches to the study of apoptosis.- Analysis of Apoptosis: Basic Principles and Protocols.

From the reviews of the second edition:

"This book comprehensively reviews knowledge of the main mechanism of cell death, apoptosis, both from the molecular viewpoint and in relation to the roles of this process in mammalian physiology and pathology. ... chapters are well written and scholarly in content and present the reader with a thorough and up-to-date insight into these fields. This book is highly recommended for scientists working in many areas of cell or developmental biology, as well as those involved in more clinical fields, such as neurobiology or molecular oncology." (Mike Clemens, Microbiology Today, November, 2009)

"The book 'Essentials of Apoptosis' is a collection of 31 review articles, covering a wide variety of approaches in studying cell death. ... It enables the reader to get acquainted with many aspects of apoptosis, and impressive amounts of references cited in each of the article allows for further studies on the subject. I recommend this book to anyone seriously interested in research on programmed dell death." (Piotr P. Stepien, Acta Biochimica Polonica, December, 2010)

"Prof. Yin and Prof. Dong ... were able to cover both conceptual and practical aspects as well as both basic and applied research aspects, thus leading to translation research aspects in biomedicine, which is a crucial hot topic in modern biomedical clinic. ... the potential readership is made up of the entire scientific comunity ... and cellular biologists, developmental biologists, protein scientists." (CarloAlberto Redi, European Journal of Histochemistry, Vol. 54 (e11), 2010)

"Comprehensive overview of the history and current knowledge of the study of the genetic program of cell death ... . the book is to inform the basic researcher and the clinician interested in understanding how inappropriate apoptosis may underlie their area of scientific interest, and in this respect it succeeds. ... a welcome addition for thecollection of a