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Hellenic Archives of Pathology, Volume 20, Issues 1-3, 2006
Apoptosis, cancer and novel targeted therapies
Nomikos A.1, Mylona E.2, Nakopoulou L.1
1Second Department of Pathology, "Attikon" University Hospital,
2First Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece
Ápoptosis refers to a genetically determined, internal, self-destruct mechanism of cell death, which is activated under a variety of circumstances as morphogenesis, the physiological turnover of cells in renewable tissues, immune regulation, deprivation of hormones and other trophic factors, environmental hazards and malignant neoplasms. In the last decade, basic cancer research has produced remarkable advances in 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. The understanding of apoptosis has provided the basis for novel targeted therapies that can induce death in cancer cells or sensitize them to established cytotoxic agents and radiation therapy. These novel agents include those targeting the extrinsic pathway of apoptosis and those targeting the intrinsic. This article reviews the current bibliography of the apoptotic pathways.
Key words: Apoptosis, cancer, therapy.
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