Bcl-2: prevention of apoptosis as a mechanism of drug resistance.

Programmed cell death (also known as apoptosis) plays an essential role in tissue homeostasis, where it ensures that new cell production in the body is offset by a commensurate rate of cell loss. Defects in the genetic pathway that regulate the cell death process can figure prominently in the origins of cancer and also in problems with cancer treatment. Eventually, it may be possible to develop novel treatments for cancer that specifically seek to modulate the physiologic cell death pathway as opposed to nearly all currently available drugs, which are intended to interfere with some aspect of the cell division cycle.