Abstract
BCl2 family proteins are major players in regulating the mitochondrial or intrinsic pathway of cell death. The BCL2 proteins are divided into prosurvival, proapoptotic, and BH3-only proteins. The balance between the three classes of proteins regulates the intrinsic or mitochondrial pathway of apoptosis. Defects in the expression or regulation of these proteins have been reported in different cancers. In fact the overexpression of prosurvival members of the BCL2 family has been associated with the resistance of various cancers to current therapies. Currently inhibitors are being developed for prosurvival members of the BCL2 proteins, some of which like ABT-199 have shown a very good response in clinical trials. The early promise shown by these inhibitors in clinical trials has opened avenues for therapeutic intervention of a number of highly resistant cancers, alone or in combination with other currently available therapies.
Keywords
- Acute Myeloid Leukemia
- Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia
- BCL2 Protein
- Mitochondrial Outer Membrane
- BCL2 Family Protein
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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Acknowledgments
Abid Mattoo acknowledges the support from Intramural research program of the National Cancer Institute at NIH. Abid Mattoo also thanks Dr. Tej Pandita, Director, Department for Radiation Oncology, Methodist hospital Research institute for research support.
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Thakur, H., Mattoo, A.R. (2017). BCL-2 Proteins and their Role in Cancer Resistance. In: Arora, G., Sajid, A., Kalia, V. (eds) Drug Resistance in Bacteria, Fungi, Malaria, and Cancer. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48683-3_21
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48683-3_21
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