Critical care medicine
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Critical care medicine · Jul 1999
Multicenter StudyApoptotic cell death in patients with sepsis, shock, and multiple organ dysfunction.
The purpose of this study was to determine whether apoptosis is a major mechanism of cell death in patients with sepsis. The activities of caspase-3 and the antiapoptotic protein, BCL-2, were investigated also. ⋯ We conclude that caspase-3-mediated apoptosis causes extensive lymphocyte apoptosis in sepsis and may contribute to the impaired immune response that characterizes the disorder.