was originally synthesized as a specific inhibitor of chymotrypsin-like serine proteases (1) and has been widely used to investigate signal transduction pathways that are involved in gene expression and cell survival/cell death. However, contradictory effects of TPCK on apoptosis have been reported. Hence, TPCK was shown to prevent apoptosis in a cell death stimulus-dependent manner in some model systems (2-4), and a recent study also suggested that TPCK may diminish apoptosis by direct and nonspecific inhibition of active caspases (5). On the other hand, TPCK was also reported to potentiate apoptosis induced by certain apoptotic stimuli, and this was suggested to occur, at least in some cases, through activation of cell cycle checkpoints via inhibition of the proteasome (3, 6). TPCK alone may also induce apoptosis. TPCK thus caused a reduction in activity of the transcription factor, NF-B, in a murine B lymphoma cell line resulting in a decrease in c-myc and activation of apoptosis (7,8). Subsequent studies have shown that TPCK can induce apoptosis in a human acute monocytic leukemia cell line through activation of mitochondria-dependent apoptosis signaling (4, 9). Studies in transformed human T cells also indicated that TPCK can induce apoptosis through inhibition of constitutive NF-B activation, and it was proposed that TPCK might affect sulfhydryl groups on proteins involved in regulating cell survival and NF-B acti- 4 The abbreviations used are: TPCK, N ␣ -tosyl-L-phenylalanine chloromethyl ketone; z, N-benzyloxycarbonyl; fmk, fluoromethyl ketone; AIF, apoptosisinducing factor; cIAP1, cellular inhibitor of apoptosis protein-1; cIAP2, cellular inhibitor of apoptosis protein-2; AMC, 7-amino-4-methylcoumarin; DHE, dihydroethidium; ⌬ m , mitochondrial transmembrane potential; EBV, Epstein-Barr virus; HAX-1, HS1-associated protein X-1; IB, inhibitor of NF-B; NAC, N-acetylcysteine; NF-B, nuclear factor B; PARP, poly(ADPribose) polymerase; PI, propidium iodide; ROS, reactive oxygen species; SCN, severe congenital neutropenia; TMRE, tetramethylrhodamine ethyl ester; XIAP, X chromosome-linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein.