More than one way to die: methods to determine TNF-induced apoptosis and necrosis

In most cellular systems tumor necrosis factor (TNF) induces apoptotic cell death. However, in some particular cell lines, such as the L929sA fibrosarcoma, TNF induces necrotic cell death. This effect is not the result of an inability to die apoptotically, because triggering of Fas in L929sAhFas cells leads to apoptosis. Moreover, TNFR-1-induced necrosis can be reverted to apoptosis when cells are pretreated with geldanamycin, an Hsp90 inhibitor. In contrast, addition of caspase-inhibitors (zVAD-fmk) prevents Fas-induced apoptosis and switches it to necrosis. These results demonstrate that depending on the cellular context, the same stimulus can induce either apoptosis or necrosis. Apoptosis and necrosis are clearly distinguished by their morphology, although in the absence of phagocytosis, the late stage of apoptosis is associated with secondary necrotic cell death, which is hard to distinguish from necrotic cell death. Necrosis is described mostly in negative terms as cell death that is characterized by the absence of apoptotic parameters, such as caspase activation, cytochrome c release, and DNA fragmentation. Here we describe a selection of techniques used to distinguish both modes of TNFR-1-induced cell death, namely apoptotic or necrotic cell death.