Calcium and cell death mechanisms: a perspective from the cell death community.

Research during the past several decades has provided convincing evidence for a crucial role of the Ca(2+) ion in cell signaling. Hence, intracellular Ca(2+) transients have been implicated in most aspects of cell physiology, including gene transcription, cell cycle regulation and cell proliferation. Further, the Ca(2+) ion has been found to also play an important role in cell death regulation. Thus, necrotic cell death was early associated with intracellular Ca(2+) overload, and multiple functions in the apoptotic process have subsequently been found to be governed by Ca(2+) signaling. More recently, other modes of cell death, notably anoikis and autophagic cell death, have been demonstrated to also be modulated by Ca(2+) transients. Characteristics, interrelationship and mechanisms involved in Ca(2+) regulation of these cell death modalities are discussed in this review.