Apoptosis update: to be, or not to be, and how to arrange the latter. Meeting review.

It has become accepted that cell death is an essential mechanism for the maintenance of an animal's health. But how do cells know when they should die, and how do they do it? A recent conference titled "Programmed Cell Death" was held by the American Association For Cancer Research in Bolton Landing, New York state, USA, on October 19-23, 1996, which focused on the signals that push a cell towards its own self-destruction, and also on the biochemical tools used by these cells in making this ultimate sacrifice. The molecular vocabulary of programmed cell death is only recently being deciphered. At the heart of programmed cell death exists at least one intrinsic program for committing cell suicide, although it is still unclear if there is only one [3]. If only one program exists, it probably contains multiple branches, overlapping pathways, and redundant molecular interactions. One item is clear, however: there exist many mechanisms for inducing cells to suicide.