Members of the Bcl-2 family of proteins interact to regulate programmed cell death, or apoptosis. Various homodimers and heterodimers formed by proteins in this family can either promote or inhibit apoptosis. Bcl-2 blocks cell death following a variety of stimuli and confers a death-sparing effect on certain hematopoietic cell lines following growth factor withdrawal. Additional apoptotic inhibitors in this family include A1, Bag-1, Bcl-w, Bcl-x and Mcl-1. Pro-apoptotic members of this family include Bax, Bad, Bak, Bik (NBK) and BID. BID contains a BH3 domain which allows it to dimerize with and counter the death repressor effects of Bcl-2. BID has also been shown to heterodimerize with Bcl-x and the death agonist Bax. BID is localized predominantly in the cytosol and is also present in membrane fractions. It is highly expressed in kidney and can also be detected in brain, spleen, liver, testis and lung.
