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The role of apoptosis in cancer development and treatment response

Nature Reviews Cancer volume 5, pages 231–237 (2005)Cite this article

Abstract

The inactivation of programmed cell death, or apoptosis, is central to the development of cancer. This disabling of apoptotic responses might be a major contributor both to treatment resistance and to the observation that, in many tumours, apoptosis is not the main mechanism for the death of cancer cells in response to common treatment regimens. Importantly, this suggests that other modes of cell death are involved in the response to therapy.

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Figure 1: p53-dependent apoptosis and malignancy.
Figure 2: Evidence for the stochastic nature of cell killing following ionizing radiation.
Figure 3: Short-term cell death assays versus long-term assays.
Figure 4: Chemotherapy and apoptosis in haematological malignancy.
Figure 5: Apoptotic versus non-apoptotic modes of cell death.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. the Division of Radiation and Cancer Biology, Department of Radiation Oncology, Stanford, 94305, California, USA

    J. Martin Brown & Laura D. Attardi

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  1. J. Martin Brown
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  2. Laura D. Attardi
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Correspondence to J. Martin Brown.

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DATABASES

Entrez Gene

BCL2

BCL-X L

CDKN1A

MDR1

p53

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Brown, J., Attardi, L. The role of apoptosis in cancer development and treatment response. Nat Rev Cancer 5, 231–237 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrc1560

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