Apoptosis in cancer

In the last decade, basic cancer research has produced remarkable advances in our understanding of cancer biology and cancer genetics, Among the most important of these advances is the realization that apoptosis and the genes that control it have a profound effect on the malignant phenotype. For exa mple, it is now clear that some oncogenic mutations disrupt apoptosis, lead ing to tumor initiation, progression or metastasis. Conversely, compelling evidence indicates that other oncogenic changes promote apoptosis, thereby producing selective pressure to override apoptosis during multistage carcin ogenesis. Finally, it is now well documented that most cytotoxic anticancer agents induce apoptosis, raising the intriguing possibility that defects i n apoptotic programs contribute to treatment failure, Because the same muta tions that suppress apoptosis during tumor development also reduce treatmen t sensitivity, apoptosis provides a conceptual framework to link cancer gen etics with cancer therapy. An intense research effort is uncovering the und erlying mechanisms of apoptosis such that, in the nest decade, one envision s that this information will produce new strategies to exploit apoptosis fo r therapeutic benefit.