Programmed Cell Death: Historical Notes from Russia

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Programmed Cell Death: Historical Notes from Russia B. Zhivotovsky1,2 1

Faculty of Basic Medicine, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 117192 Moscow, Russia 2 Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institute, 17177 Stockholm, Sweden email: [email protected] Received July 12, 2020 Revised July 12, 2020 Accepted July 16, 2020

Abstract—The investigation of cell death mechanisms is one of the fastest growing areas of modern biomedicine. A partic ular interest in this research topic arose in 1972 after publication of an article by Kerr, Wyllie, and Currie, in which apop tosis, one of the types of cell death, was first considered as a basic biological phenomenon regulating tissue homeostasis. Several Russian groups involved in the investigation of the mechanisms of radiationinduced cell death have drawn atten tion to the similarity between these two mechanisms. Unfortunately, these studies have been for a long time inaccessible to the international scientific community. These introductory remarks attempt to restore the chain of events that have taken place during the past 50 years. DOI: 10.1134/S0006297920100016 Keywords: apoptosis, radiation, mitochondria, nucleases, proteases

K. P. Hanson (19362005)

Dedicated to my Teacher.

“What is true for bacteria is also true for an elephant.” Jacques Monod INTRODUCTION These historical notes have two purposes. The first is to express my everlasting gratitude to my teacher and

friend Professor Kaido Hanson. He has taught me how to treat scientific research, how not to be afraid of difficul ties, and how to look critically at the results. It is impos sible for me to judge whether I have fully followed his rec

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ommendations, but I can honestly say that I have tried very hard. The second goal is to familiarize the young generation of researchers with the history of the develop ment of such an important biomedical field as the studies of programmed cell death and with the role of Russian researchers in its development. The fact is that even before the publication in 1972 of the fundamentally important research article by Kerr, Wyllie, and Currie [1], several Russian groups had been seriously involved in elu cidating the mechanisms of radiationinduced cell death. Most results obtained in these studies were published in Russian journals and, for obvious reasons, had for a long time remained unavailable to the world scientific com munity. Later, some of these works were translated, pub lished in international journals, and recognized by col leagues outside of Russia. Importantly, our Laboratory of Radiobiology in Leningrad was noted among the world’s leading laboratories working in the field of apoptosis in an article written by Andrew Wyllie, one of the pioneers of apoptosis research [2]. Now, almost 50 years later, I want to restore the chain of events of the past. So…

HOW IT WAS? It is wellknown that all biological organisms, either unicellular or multicellular, are mortal. Unfortunately, soon after the creation

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