NF-kB as a Determinant of Distinct Cell Death Pathways

The NF-kB signaling system has important and distinct roles in determining cell fate decisions, such as cell proliferation and cell death. Specifically, recent evidence indicates that NF-B regulates several types of programmed cell death, such as apoptosis, necroptosis, necrosis, as well as cellular senescence, but its precise role in these is not fully understood. Distinguishing these cell fates experimentally is therefore important, and several techniques are available to researchers. We summarize experimental strategies and protocols that reveal changes in nuclear morphology and cell shrinkage, exposure of phosphatidylserine, compromised membrane integrity, DNA fragmentation, and altered in Enzymology, Volume 446 # 2008 Elsevier Inc. 076-6879, DOI: 10.1016/S0076-6879(08)01610-8 All rights reserved. ion of Biological Sciences and the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University lifornia, San Diego, La Jolla, California ling Systems Laboratory, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, iego, La Jolla, California