Open Access

REVIEW

Mechanisms adopted by cancer cells to escape apoptosis–A review

by Sayequa Dandoti^*

Department of Basic Sciences, Deanship of Preparatory Year & Supporting Studies, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, 34212, Saudi Arabia

* Address correspondence to: Sayequa Dandoti,

BIOCELL 2021, 45(4), 863-884. https://doi.org/10.32604/biocell.2021.013993

Received 28 August 2020; Accepted 03 November 2020; Issue published 22 April 2021

Abstract

Inactivation of apoptosis is the prime phenomenon in cancer development and cancer treatments. Mutations in the apoptotic pathway not only exert resistance to apoptosis and provide a survival advantage to cancer cells but also confer resistance to cancer therapies. Escaping apoptosis is the “hallmark” of cancer cells. Cancer cells can withstand many apoptotic stimuli, such as DNA damage, unfavorable environments, and cytotoxic therapies. Substantial research has been carried out and is in good progress on the various mechanisms adopted by cancer cells to evade apoptosis. This article reviews the apoptosis escape mechanisms by cancer cells, viz. apoptotic gene alterations (in few essential and accessory apoptotic genes), post-translational modifications (phosphorylation and ubiquitination of apoptotic proteins), metabolic alterations, mitochondrial alterations, immunity escape, epigenetics, cancer cell dormancy, cancer clonal theory, and reversibility of apoptosis. The review reveals that there is a wide scope for further research to address the various challenges in realizing successful cancer therapies that involve reversing the apoptotic resistance and/or inducing apoptosis in tumor cells.

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