. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2010 Oct 1.

Published in final edited form as: Int J Biochem Cell Biol. 2009 Apr 21;41(10):1817–1827. doi: 10.1016/j.biocel.2009.04.010

Table 4.

Summary of cited proteins involved in the ER/mitochondria coupling in apoptosis

SYMBOL	FULL NAME	DETAILS
*apoptosis*
Akt (PKB)	v-akt murine thymoma viral oncogene homolog, also known as protein kinase B (PKB)	Serine/threonine kinase, involved in the control of cellular processes as diverse as glucose metabolism, cell proliferation, apoptosis, transcription and cell migration. AKT has a key role in promoting cell survival
Bak	Bcl-2 antagonist/killer	Pro-apoptotic Bcl-2 family members; Bax and Bak are required for the initiation of mitochondrial dysfunction during apoptosis and for maintaining the ER Ca²⁺ stores necessary for Ca²⁺-dependent cell death
Bax	Bcl-2 associated X protein
Bcl-2	B-cell lymphoma/leukemia 2	Anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 family member; Bcl-2 has been shown to decrease Ca²⁺ concentration in the ER
Bcl-XL	B-cell lymphoma/leukemia XL	Anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 family members; Bcl-XL have been reported to function at the ER by lowering its Ca²⁺ content only in the type 3 IP₃R- expressing cells
IP₃Rs	Inositol-1,4,5-trisphosphate receptors	see Table 1
VDAC	Voltage dependent anion channel	see Table 1