SARS-COV APOPTOSIS

Apoptosis is the programmed cell death process activated under cellular stress conditions and characterized by an extremely organised disassembly of cellular structures. Two are the main pathways activated during apoptosis: the intrinsic pathway that involves Bcl2 family proteins and the extrinsic pathway, involving the cascade of the death ligands (such as FasL and TNF-α). The extopic expression of several HCoVs, such as S, E, M, N, 3a, 3b, 6, 7a and 8a promotes apoptosis in infected cells. The molecular mechanisms are poorly characterized. In addition, in HCoV-infected cells, caspase-dependent apoptosis processes are induced and modulated by the activation of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway.