"Cell-to-cell transmission of HIV is absolutely required for activation of the pathogenic HIV
cell-death pathway."
If PKR indeed detects long double-stranded RNA within a cell, the protein triggers a
cell-death pathway to eliminate the cell.
Antisense oligonucleotides were shown to be effective in vitro for targeting molecules in the
cell-death pathway (e.g., c-Jun) in dissociated cell cultures of the rat spiral ganglion that had been exposed to oxidative stress with cisplatin.
Next the researchers plan to more closely investigate the split in
cell-death pathways whereby damage to chromosome ends (telomeres) leads to autophagy while damage to other parts of chromosomes leads to apoptosis.
One distinct role of TNF[alpha] is to induce programmed
cell-death pathways (i.e., apoptosis and necroptosis) by binding to and activating death receptors on cells.