Apoptosis is a form of programmed cell death that occurs in multicellular organisms. In contrast to necrosis, which is a form of traumatic cell death that results from acute cellular injury, apoptosis is a highly regulated and controlled process that confers advantages during an organism's lifecycle. Apoptosis leads to characteristic cell changes (morphology): the cell breaks apart into multiple vesicles called apoptotic bodies, which undergo phagocytosis. Apoptosis is regulated by both pro-apoptotic (such as Fas receptor and caspases) and anti-apoptotic (such as Bcl-2 and IAP) factors. Disordered apoptosis is implicated in a variety of human diseases. Inhibition of apoptosis can result in a number of cancers, autoimmune diseases, inflammatory diseases, and viral infections. Excessive apoptosis may also be a feature of some conditions such as autoimmune diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, and ischemia-associated injury. Consequently, considerable interest has arisen in therapeutic strategies for cancer, autoimmune diseases, and neurodegenerative diseases by modulating apoptosis pharmacologically.

TargetMol’s collection of 1760 apoptosis-related compounds, Apoptosis Compound Library, is divided accordingly with compounds designed for either pro- or anti-apoptosis purposes and can be used for research in cancer and neurodegenerative diseases.