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Establishing Cell Lines Overexpressing DR3 to Assess the Apoptotic Response to Anti-mitotic Therapeutics
Published on: January 11, 2019
Apoptotic pathways in tumor progression and therapy
Armelle Melet1, Keli Song, Octavian Bucur
1Department of Pathology, Harvard Medical School, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, 99 Brookline Avenue, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
Abstract:
Apoptosis is a cell suicide program that plays a critical role in development and tissue homeostasis. The ability of cancer cells to evade this programmed cell death (PCD) is a major characteristic that enables their uncontrolled growth. The efficiency of chemotherapy in killing such cells depends on the successful induction of apoptosis, since defects in apoptosis signaling are a major cause of drug resistance. Over the past decades, much progress has been made in our understanding of apoptotic signaling pathways and their dysregulation in cancer progression and therapy. These advances have provided new molecular targets for proapoptotic cancer therapies that have recently been used in drug development. While most of those therapies are still at the preclinical stage, some of them have shown much promise in the clinic. Here, we review our current knowledge of apoptosis regulation in cancer progression and therapy, as well as the new molecular targeted molecules that are being developed to reinstate cancer cell death.
Insights
Cancer cells evade apoptosis, a programmed cell death process, leading to uncontrolled growth and chemotherapy resistance. New targeted therapies aim to restore apoptosis for effective cancer treatment.
Area of Science:
- Cell biology
- Cancer research
- Pharmacology
Background:
- Apoptosis, or programmed cell death, is crucial for development and tissue balance.
- Cancer cells evade apoptosis, contributing to uncontrolled proliferation and therapeutic resistance.
- Dysregulation of apoptosis pathways is a hallmark of cancer progression and treatment failure.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review current understanding of apoptosis regulation in cancer.
- To explore the role of apoptosis in cancer progression and therapeutic response.
- To highlight novel molecular targets for pro-apoptotic cancer therapies.
Main Methods:
- Literature review of apoptosis signaling pathways.
- Analysis of dysregulation in cancer progression.
- Examination of targeted pro-apoptotic therapies in drug development.
Main Results:
- Significant progress in understanding apoptosis regulation in cancer.
- Identification of apoptosis evasion as a key cancer trait.
- Emergence of molecularly targeted pro-apoptotic therapies.
Conclusions:
- Restoring apoptosis is a promising strategy for cancer therapy.
- Targeted molecules are being developed to induce cancer cell death.
- New pro-apoptotic therapies show potential in preclinical and clinical settings.
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