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PMID: 21415859 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Review

The role of Bcl-2 and its pro-survival relatives in tumourigenesis and cancer therapy.

Cell death and differentiation ·Vol. 18 ·No. 9 ·2011-09-00 ·Pages 1414-24

Kelly PN, Strasser A

Abstract

Tumour development requires a combination of defects that allow nascent neoplastic cells to become self-sufficient for cell proliferation and insensitive to signals that normally restrain cell growth. Among the latter, evasion of programmed cell death (apoptosis) has proven to be critical for the development and sustained growth of many, perhaps all, cancers. Apoptotic cell death is regulated by complex interactions between pro-survival members and two subgroups of pro-apoptotic members of the B-cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2) protein family. In this invited review article, we reminisce on the discovery of Bcl-2, the first regulator of cell death identified, we discuss the mechanisms that control apoptotic cell death, focussing on how defects in this process promote the development and sustained growth of tumours and also affect their responses to anticancer therapeutics and, finally, we describe how current knowledge of the regulatory networks of apoptosis is exploited to develop novel approaches for cancer therapy.

MeSH Terms
Animals Antineoplastic Agents/pharmacology,therapeutic use Apoptosis/drug effects,physiology Cell Proliferation Cell Transformation, Neoplastic Humans Mice Minor Histocompatibility Antigens Molecular Targeted Therapy Myeloid Cell Leukemia Sequence 1 Protein Neoplasms/drug therapy,genetics,pathology Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2/physiology
Chemicals
Antineoplastic Agents BCL2-related protein A1 Minor Histocompatibility Antigens Myeloid Cell Leukemia Sequence 1 Protein Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2
Authors & Affiliations
2 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Kelly P N
Molecular Genetics of Cancer Division, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, 1G Royal Parade, Parkville, VIC 3050, Australia.
Strasser A
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Article Info
Journal
Cell death and differentiation
Abbr.
Cell Death Differ
ISSN
1476-5403
DOI
10.1038/cdd.2011.17
Published
2011-09-00
Epub
2011-00-18
Pages
1414-24
Language
English
Region
England
NLM ID
9437445
PMCID
PMC3149740
Subset
IM
Grants
NCI NIH HHS · R01 CA043540 · United States
NCI NIH HHS · R01 CA043540-22 · United States
NCI NIH HHS · (CA 043540), · United States
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1038/cdd.2011.17 PMC Full Text View journal details
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