“…5,6) Apoptosis disorders induce a disruption of tissue homeostasis and functions and are associated with many diseases, such as cancer, neurodegenerative disease and toxin-induced disease. 7) Cadmium can induce apoptosis in various tissues and cultured cells, including mouse liver, 8) rat kidney and testis, [9][10][11][12][13] human T cell line (CEM-C12 cells), lymphoma U937 cells, normal hepatocytes, liver L-02 cells, fetal lung fibroblast MRC-5 cells and prostate epithelial cells, [14][15][16][17][18][19] mouse mesangial cells, 20) rat lung epithelial cells, cortical neurons and renal tubular epithelial cells, [21][22][23] and porcine kidney LLC-PK 1 cells. 24) These observations indicate that cell death of the proximal tubule cells in the kidney through apoptotic pathways is one of the key events in cadmium-induced renal toxicity.…”