Role of Apoptosis in Cancer Proliferation and in molecular target therapy Manchanda Adesh1,*, Arora Aayushi2 1Reader, Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Pathology, Sri Guru Ram Das Institute of Dental sciences & Research, Amritsar, Punjab, India 2BDS (Intern), Sri Guru Ram Das Institute of Dental sciences & Research, Amritsar, Punjab, India *Corresponding Author Dr Adesh S Manchanda, MDS, Reader, Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Pathology, Sri Guru Ram Das Institute of Dental sciences & Research, Amritsar, Punjab, India.
Online published on 17 February, 2020. Abstract Apoptosis is a programmed cell death that occurs in physiological and pathological conditions which is necessary to maintain balance between cell survival and cell death in multicellular organisms. Physiological conditions involving apoptosis are apoptosis during embryonic development, shedding of endometrium, regression of the lactating breast, involution of thymus, etc. Pathological conditions involving apoptosis are drug induced cell death in cancer, cell death in myocardial infarction, cell death in degenerative diseases, depletion of CD4+ cells in AIDS, etc. Apoptosis was earlier described by its morphological characteristics only; but now we know that it is a gene-directed program and any changes in the program leads to cancer but at the same time restarting the program acts as the treatment. The apoptotic signals contribute into safeguarding the genomic integrity while defective apoptosis may promote carcinogenesis. This article will review the mechanisms of apoptosis and modulation of these mechanisms in tumor cells along with strategies to exploit apoptosis for therapeutic benefits in cancer. Top Keywords Apoptosis, Bcl-2, molecular target therapy. Top |