IAP proteins: blocking the road to death's door

摘要: The 'inhibitor of apoptosis' (IAP) gene family, which was discovered less than a decade ago, encodes group structurally related proteins that, in addition to their ability suppress apoptotic cell death, are involved an increasing number seemingly unrelated cellular functions. Here, we review the functional and structural properties this fascinating proteins, several recently identified IAP-binding factors that regulate IAP function.