Fig. 1.

Cytokine signalling and Bcl-2 family members. One of the mechanisms by which cytokine signalling promotes cell survival is through inhibition of apoptotic pathways. Bcl-2 family members are crucial for the regulation of cell death signalling. Activation of beta-chain signalling can suppress expression of BH3-only pro-apoptotic proteins, in particular, Bim, Puma and Bad. Induction and maintenance of anti-apoptotic proteins Mcl-1, Bcl-2, A1 and Bcl-x during activation of cytokine signalling is also crucial to prevent cell death induced by cytokine deprivation