title: Apoptosis and oncogenesis: give and take in the BCL-2 family.
abstract: The mitochondrial pathway of apoptosis constitutes one of the main safeguards against tumorigenesis. The BCL-2 family includes the central players of this pathway that regulate cell fate through the control of mitochondrial outer membrane permeabilization (MOMP), and important progress has been made in understanding the dynamic interactions between pro-apoptotic and anti-apoptotic BCL-2 proteins. In particular, recent studies have delineated a stepwise model for the induction of MOMP. BCL-2 proteins are often dysregulated in cancer, leading to increased survival of abnormal cells; however, recent studies have paradoxically shown that apoptosis induction can under some circumstances drive tumor formation, perhaps by inducing compensatory proliferation under conditions of cellular stress. These observations underline the complexity of BCL-2 protein function in oncogenesis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, 262 Danny Thomas Place, Memphis, TN 39105, USA.
authors.forename: Fabien
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Llambi
authors.forename: Douglas R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Green
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D055503:Protein Multimerization; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 / Q000378:metabolism*; D015398:Signal Transduction
chemical_list: D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2