Figure 8.

Schematic illustration of the apoptosis pathway. (a) Under normal conditions, taxol (TXL) induces mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) loss and apoptosis in a caspase‐dependent manner. (b) Bcl‐xL overexpression completely blocks TXL‐induced cell death by the prevention of MMP loss and subsequent release of both cytochrome c and AIF/EndoG. (c) In the presence of bafilomycin A1 (BMA), TXL can induce apoptosis by both caspase‐dependent and ‐independent pathways as the situation demands. (d) BMA predominantly suppresses the mitochondria gatekeeping function of Bcl‐xL. In this situation, TXL can induce caspase‐independent apoptosis in human small cell lung carcinoma Ms‐1 cell lines transfected with Bcl‐xL (Ms‐1/Bcl‐xL) (via AIF/EndoG translocation to the nucleus).