Microarray Analysis of Apoptosis

Apoptotic cell death is a genetically regulated process and the balance between death and survival signals determines the fate of a cell. Apoptosis is important in development and in a number of pathological conditions including cancer and autoimmune diseases. Many transcription factors have been shown to regulate apoptosis in a range of biological systems. However, the downstream target genes and the mechanism of their action have not been clearly defined. The recent advent of gene microarray technology will allow the expression patterns of a large number of genes to be analyzed. Changes in transcription in response to an apoptotic stimulus can be identified and novel pathways defined.