Cell Death and Differentiation (2006) 13, 363–373 & 2006 Nature Publishing Group All rights reserved 1350-9047/06 $30.00 www.nature.com/cdd Review Cellular response to endoplasmic reticulum stress: a matter of life or death M Boyce1 and J Yuan*,1 therefore critical for numerous aspects of cell physiology, including vesicle trafficking, lipid and membrane biogenesis 1 Department of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA and protein targeting and secretion. Accordingly, metazoan * Corresponding author: J Yuan, Department of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical cells react rapidly to ER dysfunction through a set of adaptive School, 240 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA. pathways known collectively as the ER stress response Tel: þ 1 617 432 4170; Fax: þ 1 617 432 4177; (ESR).2–6 E-mail:
[email protected] The ESR can be triggered by disparate perturbations in Received 01.8.05; revised 28.9.05; accepted 03.10.05; published online 06.1.06 normal ER function, such as the accumulation of unfolded, Edited by G Melino misfolded or excessive protein, ER lipid or glycolipid imbalances, or changes in the redox or ionic conditions of the ER lumen.2,3,5,6 In response to such dysfunction, the ESR Abstract acts both to increase the capacity of the ER to fold and The proper functioning of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is process client proteins, and to alleviate the burden on the critical for numerous aspects of cell physiology. Accordingly, organelle by reducing the amount of protein inside the ER. These effects are achieved through three major pathways: (I) all eukaryotes react rapidly to ER dysfunction through a set the unfolded protein response (UPR), a transcription-depen- of adaptive pathways known collectively as the ER stress dent induction of ER lumenal chaperone proteins and other response (ESR).