Fas Signaling is focused on the signaling mechanisms and biology of the prototypic death receptor Fas, also called CD95 or APO-1. The chapters of this book cover, besides the well recognized apoptosis-related functions of Fas, its emerging role as a proinflammatory cytokine and as an inducer of alternative forms of cell death. Fas Signaling aims to provide the reader with an up-to-date survey of the various aspects of Fas biology and the open questions of the field are addressed. This title is intended for Ph.D and post-doctoral students starting to work in the field, but is also useful for everyone with an interest in the biology of this exciting molecule.

This volume presents a current overview of key genes involved in the control of apoptosis research together with thoughts on future prospects and clinical applications. Top scientists from around the world wrote on current progresses to help establish and/or strengthen communications between scientists from the West and those in Asia.

This volume contains papers that were presented and discussed at The 1996 Interna tional Symposium on Programmed Cell Death, which was held in the Shanghai Science Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences on September 8-12, 1996. Apoptosis has attracted great attention in the past several years. This is reflected in part by the exponential increase in the number of papers published on the subject. While several major scientific conferences have been held in recent years, this meeting repre sents the first major international scientific meeting on programmed cell death held in Asia, where fast economic growth promises a bright future for both basic and applied re search in biomedical sciences. We organized the meeting with the belief that such a gath ering would foster a closer interaction between scientists from the West and those in Asia. Research on programmed cell death has expanded so extensively that no one meet ing can cover all the important subjects related to apoptosis. The Shanghai meeting fo cused on several key areas ranging from well-established ones, such as cell death in the immune system, to emerging ones, such as the role ofECM in regUlating cell fate. Specifi cally, the subjects presented and discussed included programmed cell death during devel opment, the regulation and biochemical mechanisms of lymphocyte apoptosis, the involvement of extracellular matrix and its remodeling in programmed cell death, genes that cause or prevent cell death, and the application of apoptosis toward cancer therapy.

One of the major goals of researchers in the field of apoptosis is to identify targets for novel therapies in cancer, AIDS, and Alzheimer’s disease. Understanding the molecular mechanisms of the various components of the apoptotic pathways is the first step to reaching this goal. The 2002 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Sydney Brenner (United Kingdom), H. Robert Horvitz (US) and John E. Sulston (UK) "for their discoveries concerning genetic regulation of organ development and programmed cell death." Cell death is a fundamental aspect of embryonic development, normal cellular turnover and maintenance of homeostasis (maintaining a stable, constant environment) on the one hand, and aging and disease on the other. This volume addresses the significant advances with the techniques that are being used to analyze cell death. This volume provides the necessary, trusted methods to carry out this research on these latest therapeutic techniques. Once researchers understand the molecular mechanisms of the apoptotic pathways, they can begin to develop new therapies Presents key methods on studying tumors and how these cancer cells evade cell death Eliminates searching through many different sources to avoid pitfalls so the same mistakes are not made over and over

This volume provides the current understanding of death receptor's/TLR3 signaling regulation in cancer. Death receptors, including TRAIL-R1, TRAIL-R2, Fas and TNF-RI, owing to their ability to trigger apoptosis and to contribute to the elimination of cancer cells by the immune system have been considered, to variable extent, as important therapeutic targets for cancer therapy. But an increasing body of evidence suggests that some of these receptors may also contribute to tumorigenesis, or that new players such as TLR3 may be targeted for cancer therapy due to their ability to behave like death receptors.