| Product description |
Rabbit polyclonal to Bag1Bcl-2 proteins are a key regulator of apoptosis that function to either inhibit or promote cell death. Over expression of members such as Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL inhibit the apoptotic process (1,2). Bcl-2 family members are also characterized by dimerizing to further modulate apoptosis. Bag-1, for example, has been found to form a heterodimer with Bcl-2 resulting in the enhancement of the anti-apoptotic effect of Bcl-2 (3,4). Bax and Bak have been shown to play a critical role in cytochrome c release from mitochondria and thus initiate apoptosis (6). Bad plays a critical role in the Bax-mediated apoptosis pathway by dimerizing with Bcl-xL, causing the displacement of Bax. The displacement of Bax allows apoptosis to proceed (7). Bcl-xS, a shorter version of Bcl-xL (lacking amino acids 126-188), apparently utilizes a different pathway than Bax to induce cell death. Some research suggests that Bcl-xS uses a novel mechanism for regulating caspase or it may use an alternate cell death effector pathway (8,9). |