Analysis of apoptotic pathways to develop better therapies for unresponsive cancers.

严格控制细胞存活和死亡之间的平衡对于正常发育和避免多种疾病非常重要。癌前细胞的不适当存活可能会导致肿瘤的发生。抗癌疗法通过在肿瘤细胞中诱导细胞自毁程序来发挥作用，控制这一过程的通路受阻可能会导致抗癌治疗产生耐药性。确定细胞死亡途径将有助于开发出更好的治疗不治之症的方法。

Tight control of the balance between cellular survival and death is important for normal development and to avoid numerous diseases. Inappropriate survival of precancerous cells can contribute to oncogenesis. Anti-cancer therapies act by inducing a cellular self-destruct program in tumour cells, and blocks in pathways controlling this process can lead to resistance to anti-cancer treatments. Defining cell death pathways will enable the development of better therapies for incurable cancers.