Direct activation of caspases by RGD-peptides may increase drug sensitivity of tumour cells

The realization that cellular homeostasis is dependent on the continuous in tegration of survival and death signals picked up from the environment and the recent advances in identifying the molecular players involved in these networks may increase our ability to manipulate apoptosis for therapeutic p urposes. A recent paper by Buckley et al, in Nature(1) brings this goal one step closer by identifying peptides, containing the motif arginine-glycine -aspartate (RGD), that induce apoptosis by direct activation of caspase-3,W e put this finding in the context of what is known about the RGD motif in t he light of cancer treatment and suggest the possibility of a synergistic a ction with anticancer drugs.