A trigger model of apoptosis induced by tumor necrosis factor signaling

Abstract

The ability of living cells to respond appropriately to apoptosis signals is crucial for the proper development and homeostasis of multicellular organisms. For example, viable cells must be stable enough to appropriately respond to apoptosis signaling so that an irreversible death program is only induced when apoptosis signaling reaches a certain threshold. Previous studies have introduced bistability models in which signaling by caspase-3 activity represents a key regulator of cell fate in response to apoptosis stimuli.