title: Know the enemy as well as the weapons in hand: the aberrant death pathways and therapeutic agents in chronic lymphocytic leukemia.
abstract: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is a highly heterogeneous hematologic malignancy and characterized by dysregulation of cell death pathways. Apoptosis and necroptosis are the two major cell death processes, and substantial evidence showed up-regulation of several pro-survival factors in CLL cells. Autophagy, as a dual player in mediating cell death and survival, is largely regarded to be an alternative target in the treatment of CLL. Numerous novel drugs have been developed and are being investigated in clinical trials. It is necessary to depict the impaired cell death pathways in CLL and the pro-survival factors targeted by noncytotoxic drugs directly or indirectly. Here we summarize three dysregulated cell death mechanisms in CLL, and present the current knowledge of drugs that orchestrate cell death via targeting pro-survival factors and the clinical effects as well.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Jiangsu Province Hospital, Collaborative Innovation Center For Cancer Personalized Medicine, Nanjing Medical University Nanjing 210029, Jiangsu, China.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Jiangsu Province Hospital, Collaborative Innovation Center For Cancer Personalized Medicine, Nanjing Medical University Nanjing 210029, Jiangsu, China.
authors.forename: Jia-Zhu
authors.initials: JZ
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Jiangsu Province Hospital, Collaborative Innovation Center For Cancer Personalized Medicine, Nanjing Medical University Nanjing 210029, Jiangsu, China.
authors.forename: Jian-Yong
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Jiangsu Province Hospital, Collaborative Innovation Center For Cancer Personalized Medicine, Nanjing Medical University Nanjing 210029, Jiangsu, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Xu
keywords: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia; apoptosis; autophagy; necroptosis; therapy