“…Known as apoptogenic proteins, these released proteins include cytochrome c (Yang et al, 1997), AIF (Susin et al, 1996), HtrA2/Omi (Suzuki et al, 2001), SMAC/Diablo (Du et al, 2000) and EndoG (Li et al, 2001b;Zhang et al, 2003a) of which cytochrome c has been the most intensively studied. Upon intrinsic apoptotic stimulation, cytochrome c is released into the cytosol where it triggers the formation of the apoptosome, a multimeric molecule comprising of apoptotic protease activating factor-1 (Apaf-1), ATP or dATP and cytochrome c (Cain et al, 2002).…”