Abstract:

Apoptosis is a way of “suicide” used by organisms to clean up the aging and damaged cells, to maintain thecellular homeostasis and to ensure the health of the body. Recent studies have shown that the virulence factors of foodbornepathogens play a vital role in inducing apoptosis in their host cells. After entering the body, the foodborne pathogens canescape the host immune clearance by inducing apoptosis in host cells to ensure their own survive and spread in the host body.Many pathogens produce virulence factors, which combine with the apoptotic regulators in host cells to induce apoptosis.This review provides a brief overview of the mechanisms of apoptosis induced by foodborne pathogens from the aspects ofthe regulation and effect of apoptosis signaling pathway caused by the pathogen-derived virulence factors

Key words: foodborne pathogens, apoptosis, virulence factors