Information supplied by Kathy McCloskey

---

In the April issue of Science magazine (Marcia Baringa (1998). Death by Dozens of Cuts. Science, 280, pp. 32-34), mitochondria are identified as being the cellular messenger for death. Cytochrome C is released from the mitochondria within our cells, and binds to 'Apaf-1," a protein which then fits like a key to a lock with caspase-9. Caspase-9 is then activated and creates blisters on the cell membrane (which eventially rupture and kill the cell). This protein-cleaving enzyme "cascade" is essential for normal cycles of cell death and replacement, but when repeated over and over information within cells is lost (like copying paper 1 to paper 2, then paper 2 to paper 3, and so on, on a Xerox machine) and we age. When cell death is not balanced with replacement growth, such as with certain cancers, it also becomes an obvious problem. Researchers are now trying to develop ways in which to interfere with the cascade, and thus aging and disease processes.