Special Issue in Honour of Stanley J. Korsmeyer

Bcl-2 family members are subdivided into BH3-only proteins, Bax/Bak-like killers and Bcl-2-like survival factors that interact with each other to integrate survival and death signals in higher eukaryotes. Some family members might also regulate cell cycle progression, DNA damage control and metabolic processes. Although mutations of Bcl-2 family members are rare in cancer, their crucial impact on the life-death decision of a cell makes them attractive targets for anticancer therapy, especially in chemoresistant tumor cells which are often insensitive to apoptotic death stimuli. This review series provides an update on our current knowledge about the mode of actions and intervening possibilities of Bcl-2 family members, the regulation of caspase-dependent and -independent signaling pathways, the role of mitochondria and the ER in apoptosis execution and the evolutionary conservation of death signaling pathways across species. It honours Stanley J. Korsmeyer who largely contributed to all these topics in the last two decades.