Abstract
Aberrations in proteins that control apoptosis and cell survival are common in cancer. These aberrations often reside in signalling proteins that control the activation of the apoptotic machinery or in the Bcl-2 family of proteins that control caspase activation. Recent evidence suggests that caspase 2, one of the most evolutionarily conserved caspases, may have multiple roles in the DNA damage response, cell cycle regulation and tumour suppression. These findings are unexpected and have important implications for our understanding of tumorigenesis and the treatment of cancer.
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Acknowledgements
I thank Donna Denton, Martin Lavin and Loretta Dorstyn for helpful comments. The work in my laboratory is supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia and the Cancer Council of South Australia.
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Kumar, S. Caspase 2 in apoptosis, the DNA damage response and tumour suppression: enigma no more?. Nat Rev Cancer 9, 897–903 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrc2745
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrc2745
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