Abstracts

Programed cell death modalities like apoptosis, pyroptosis and necroptosis are crucial for homeostasis and implicated in several human disorders like cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. Development of high-throughput assays which evaluate distinct cell death modalities are critical to identify potential therapeutic agents that control these cellular responses. Split luciferase complementary assays have been widely developed for assessing protein- protein interactions (PPI) in regulated cell death due to their simplicity, sensitivity, and known chemistry. Split luciferase reconstitution assays have been used to probe role of Apaf-1 structure and the regulation of apoptosome formation in apoptosis. Similar approaches were used to probe the interactions of NLRP3 and ASC in inflammasome formation, which occur in pyroptosis, as well as components of necrosome complex involved in necroptosis. Multiplex bioluminescence platforms which simultaneously distinguish between the various cell death phenomena will be discussed. We also highlight the recent technological achievements of bioluminescent tools within European Commission granted networks (EPIC and VIDEC).