The regulation of cell death in various reproductive tissues, as in other ma- jor organ systems of the body, has become a focal point of research activity in many laboratories over the past few years. As such, the need for a "for- mal" meeting to highlight recent work in this field, as well as to integrate knowledge from other sources (such as investigators working on cell death in cancer and immune function) in the broad context of identifying con- served pathways that coordinate life-and-death decisions in diverse cell types, became apparent. Therefore, the goals of the Scientific Committee...

It is now widely accepted that cells have the ability to initiate a program of gene-directed death, a process called "apoptosis" which may also be used as an innovative strategy for therapeutic intervention in cancer therapy. Experts in this area report on the regulation and control of apoptosis in hormone dependent (neoplastic) tissue and the possibility to exploit active cell death for therapeutic application.