Apoptosis in the development and treatment of cancer

Our somatic cells are born by mitosis and almost all will die by apoptosis, a physiological process of cellular suicide. Cancers can occur when this balance is disturbed, either by an increase in cell proliferation or a decrease in cell death. The goal of cancer therapy is to promote the death of ca...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Carcinogenesis (New York) 2005-02, Vol.26 (2), p.263-270
Main Authors: Gerl, Robert, Vaux, David L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Antineoplastic Agents - pharmacology
Antineoplastic Agents - therapeutic use
Apoptosis - drug effects
Apoptosis - physiology
Cell Proliferation - drug effects
Genes, p53 - physiology
Humans
Mice
Mitosis - drug effects
Mitosis - physiology
Neoplasms - drug therapy
Neoplasms - physiopathology
Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 - metabolism
Signal Transduction - drug effects
Signal Transduction - physiology
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Summary:Our somatic cells are born by mitosis and almost all will die by apoptosis, a physiological process of cellular suicide. Cancers can occur when this balance is disturbed, either by an increase in cell proliferation or a decrease in cell death. The goal of cancer therapy is to promote the death of cancer cells without causing too much damage to normal cells. Our knowledge of the mechanisms of apoptosis has enhanced our understanding of how some cancers originate and progress. It has also revealed that existing cancer therapies can work in two ways, by induction of apoptosis as well as by direct toxicity. In some cases resistance to apoptosis may explain why cancer therapies fail. Novel treatments designed to exploit our knowledge of apoptotic mechanisms are under development to promote apoptosis of cancer cells and limit concurrent death of normal cells.
ISSN:0143-3334
1460-2180
1460-2180
DOI:10.1093/carcin/bgh283