Contributors -- Abbreviations -- Preface -- 1 Apoptotic cell death: from worms to wombats ... but what about the weeds? 1 /M.O. Hengartnerand J.A. Bryant -- Caenorhabditis elegans: the worm that turned ... into a model multicellular eukaryote -- The molecular mechanisms of programmed cell death in Caenorhabditis elegans -- Comparison with mammalian apoptosis -- Plants, from Arabidopsis to Zinnia -- General conclusions -- 2 Caspases - at the cutting edge of cell death /H.R. Stennicke -- Introduction -- Caspases and their properties -- Structure of the caspases -- Activation and regulation of the caspases -- Evolution of the caspases -- 3 Modulation of death receptor signalling /P. Schneider and J.Tschopp -- Introduction -- Death receptors and apoptosis -- Activation of death receptors by death ligands -- Decoy receptors -- Inhibition of death receptor by FLIP -- Conclusion -- 4 The role of the Bcl-2 family in the modulation of apoptosis /C. Pepper and P. Bentley -- Introduction -- Bcl-2 family: life or death promoters -- Function of the Bcl-2 family proteins -- Cellular control of Bcl-2 family proteins -- Over-expression of Bcl-2 family proteins and chemoresistance -- Drug resistance in B-CLL -- Strategies for inhibiting Bcl-2 function in B-CLL -- Conclusions -- 5 The role of granzymes and serpins in regulating cell growth and death /P. Coughlin, E. Morris and L. Hampson -- Introduction -- Induction of apoptosis by cytotoxic T cells and natural killer cells -- How does granzyme B gain access to the interior of target cells? -- Molecular targets of granzyme B -- Regulation of granzyme B activity -- The intracellular regulation of granzyme B by PI-9 -- The role of intracellular serpins in cell growth and death -- Conclusions -- 6 Mitochondria and cell death: a pore way to die? /A.P. Halestrap, J.P. Gillespie, A. O'Toole and E. Doran -- Introduction -- The mitochondrial permeability transition -- Mitochondria and apoptosis -- 7 Regulation of apoptosis by cell metabolism