**2. Mechanisms of cancer cells evading apoptosis**

Apoptosis is an autonomous process that involves the activation, expression, and regulation of a wide range of genes, leading to programed cell death to remove unwanted or abnormal cells in organisms and maintaining a stable internal environment. Apoptosis mediates the programed cell death either in a caspase-dependent or in a caspase-independent pathway. The caspase-dependent pathway can be classified into the extrinsic pathway and the intrinsic pathway, as illustrated in **Figure 1**. Caspases, a cysteine protease family, can be divided into the apoptotic subfamily and the inflammatory subfamily according to the pathway they involve. Among the known 18 mammalian caspases, caspases 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 can be categorized as apoptotic caspases: caspase 2 is involved in various cell death pathways; caspases 3, 6, and 7 work as apoptotic executors, while caspases 8 and 10 are essential in the extrinsic pathway and caspase 9 is essential in intrinsic pathway. As shown in **Figure 1**, the extrinsic pathway facilitates apoptosis by activating caspases through the death receptor ligands on the cell surface. The death receptor ligands are closely related to the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) receptor superfamily, including the TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL), TNFR1 (CD120a), Fas (APO-1/CD95), Weasl (APO-2/DR3), TRAIL-R1 (DR4), TRAIL-R2 (DR5), and DR6. Take Fas as an example. Fas/FasL is one of the well-known death receptors associated with signaling pathways in immune and pro-apoptotic effect [8]. The Fas exists in two forms: membrane Fas (mFas) and soluble Fas (sFas). mFas and sFas bind to FasL in a competitive way. The binding of mFas and FasL induces pro-apoptosis, while the binding of sFas and FasL has no similar effect. With the binding of mFas and FasL, mFas-associated death domain

unapparent symptoms. Fortunately, benefiting from the advances in cancer treatment and the alteration in personal habits (e.g. reduction of smoking), cancer mortality has been declining

Among cancer treatments, chemotherapy is one of the most effective modalities. The patients are given first-line treatments after the clinical diagnosis. With the promising and wide spectrum of anticancer effects, the first-line drugs are very likely to kill the cancer cells and increase survival rate among patients. However, some patients may suffer relapse or cancer metastasis, and second-line treatments come to stage. Chemotherapy usually uses alkylate and anthracyclines as antimetabolic agents in clinical treatments. These chemotherapeutic drugs mainly take effect through activation of caspases and calcium-dependent nucleases to induce cancer cell apoptosis. For example, taxol, a microtubule inhibitor, promotes cancer cell apoptosis by inhibiting phosphorylation of apoptotic protein Bcl-2 [3], while glucocorticoid, the chemotherapeutic drug for acute lymphoblastic leukemia, induces apoptosis by regulating a sequence of apoptosis-related genes in malignant cells [4]. The chemotherapeutic drugs can also transfer the pro-apoptotic signals to cancer cells, ending the cell cycle and program-

However, cancer resistance is common in chemotherapy and leads to therapeutic failure. Cancer resistance can be sorted into primary resistance and acquired resistance. The primary resistance originates from the natural immunity, while the acquired resistance is gained and developed during treatment. Drug resistance can be caused by changing drug targets. For example, DNA-targeting drugs take effect in the nucleus; however, the drugs would disperse into the cytoplasm in the presence of a non-ABC transporter [5]. As a result, the chemotherapeutic drugs fail to target DNA in the nucleus, but accumulate in the extracellular environment. In addition, patients would develop drug resistance after long exposure to the same agent, and may even develop cross-resistance to non-related drugs and multidrug resistance (MDR). The mechanism of drug resistance is intricate, involving the alteration of transporter pump, the aversion of apoptosis and autophagy, the mutation and amplification of oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes, the variation of drug metabolism, etc. To remedy cancer resistance, researchers have tried many solutions. For instance, Wang et al. have used gambogic acid (GA) as an auxiliary to remedy doxorubicin (DOX) resistance in breast cancer [6, 7]. GA could reduce the expression of P-glycoprotein (P-gp), a key protein in DOX resistance, and promote the accumulation of DOX in cancer cells [6]. Furthermore, GA has been reported to induce apoptosis via p38 MAPK pathway. GA increases the apoptotic rate by downregulating the expression of survivin mRNA [6]. Even though the mechanism of the combined treatment is still unclear, it seems to be a promising approach for DOX resistance in breast cancer. To further improve the efficacy of chemotherapy, the mechanism of cancer resistance should be

Apoptosis is an autonomous process that involves the activation, expression, and regulation of a wide range of genes, leading to programed cell death to remove unwanted or abnormal cells in organisms and maintaining a stable internal environment. Apoptosis mediates the

over the past two decades [2].

126 Current Understanding of Apoptosis - Programmed Cell Death

ing cell death.

fathomed.

**2. Mechanisms of cancer cells evading apoptosis**

**Figure 1.** The intrinsic and extrinsic apoptotic pathways. The extrinsic pathway facilitates apoptosis by activating caspases through the death receptor ligands (e.g. mFas) on the cell surface. With the binding of mFas and FasL, mFasassociated death domain (FADD) combines with procaspases 8 and 10, leading to the formation of death-inducing signaling complex (DISC) which activates the downstream signal cascade. MAC forms on the mitochondrial outer membrane and releases cytochrome C into the cytosol. The intrinsic pathway of apoptosis is initiated by cytochrome C released from mitochondria to the cytosol. In the presence of ATP/dATP, cytochrome C interacts with the apoptotic protease-activating factor (Apaf-1) to promote the formation of apoptosome with procaspase 9.

(FADD) combines with procaspases 8 and 10, leading to the formation of death-inducing signaling complex (DISC), which activates the downstream signal cascade [9]. The activated caspase 8 modifies Bid into tBid. tBid binds with Bak and Bax, which are pro-apoptosis proteins that control the permeability of mitochondrial outer membrane, to form mitochondrial apoptosis-induced channel (MAC). The intrinsic pathway of apoptosis, also known as the mitochondrial pathway, is initiated by cytochrome C. Cytochrome C is a key protein for electron transfer in mitochondria. Mitochondria releases cytochrome C into the cytosol through MAC in response to stresses of apoptosis-inducing factors [9]. In the presence of ATP/dATP, cytochrome C interacts with the apoptotic protease-activating factor (Apaf-1) in the cytosol to form a complex and promotes the formation of apoptosome that activates procaspase 9 [9]. The activated caspase 9 further activates the downstream caspases.

transcriptional, and post-translational levels to disturb the interaction between Bim and Bak/Bax, and thus change the mitochondria's outer membrane permeabilization (MOMP). Overexpression of Bcl-2 inhibits cell death induced by a variety of cytotoxins, and enhances cell resistance to DNA damage factors and most chemotherapeutic drugs [16]. Bcl-2 has been shown to inhibit p53-mediated apoptosis but cannot inhibit p53 translocation toward nucleolus or p53-mediated growth arrest. The possible role of Bcl-2 is to block the activation of the

Role of Apoptosis in Cancer Resistance to Chemotherapy

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In addition, the abnormal expression of IAPs in cancer cells also increases cancer malignancies. The overexpression of IAPs abolishes the downstream caspase cascade. IAPs form a complex with the baculovirus-IAP repeat (BIR) domain of caspases, inhibiting the catalytic activity of caspases 3, 7, and 9 and blocking the process of apoptosis. cIAP1 inhibits apoptosis by binding to the BIR2 domain, which is used for activating caspases 3 and 7, resulting in ubiquitin-mediated proteasomal degradation. Werner et al. [17] have reported that upregulation of cIAP1/2 inhibits TRAIL-mediated apoptosis in follicular thyroid cancer. The IAPs have also been reported in interaction with NF-κB [18]. They are key molecules that regulate tumor cell apoptosis and chemo-sensitivity, developing new targets for reversing tumor cell

A variety of signal pathways are involved in the anti-apoptosis process. The TNF family is associated with apoptosis and malignant tumorigenesis. It has been reported that the translational level of Fas is downregulated in prostate cancer and liver cancer. TRAIL, another membrane of TNF family, intrigues wide anticancer effect by exerting pattern-like function of mFas. It has been found that some cancers show primary resistance and even develop multiple-mechanism resistance to TRAIL-induced apoptosis [19]. For example, overexpression of TRAIL receptor 3 (TRAIL-R3/DcR1) and TRAIL receptor 4 (TRAIL-R4/DcR2) is considered to contribute to the TRAIL-mediated apoptosis evasion of cancer cells. TRAIL-R3 and TRAIL-R4 are decoy receptors without intercellular death domain. The incapability of TRAIL-3 and TRAIL-4 to associate with procaspases 8 and 10 to form DISC attenuates the activation of downstream signaling pathway [20]. Furthermore, gene mutation of diverse proteins generates the anti-apoptotic effect. Shlyakhtina Y. and his colleagues [21] have studied TRAIL-R2 (DR5) within isogenic cancer cell populations. The models were pretreated with distinctive inhibitors, and the results showed that apoptosis evasion involves kinase cascades of func-

Alteration of the p53 pathway also contributes to apoptosis evasion. The p53 gene is a human tumor suppressor gene. The p53 protein endows anticancer effect by activating defected gene repair and causing apoptosis of cancer cells if the damage is irreparable. p53 regulates apoptosis through Bax/Bcl-2, Fas/Apol, IGF-BP3, and other proteins. Inactivation, elimination, and abnormal expression of the p53 gene play important roles in tumorigenesis. About 80% of human tumors are caused by dysfunctional p53 signaling and 50% by p53 gene mutation [22]. Abnormal expression of p53 downregulates Bax/Noxa/Puma expression and upregulates Bcl-2. The upregulation of Bcl-2 prevents cytochrome C release from the mitochondria, inhibiting p53-mediated apoptosis. The downregulation of Bax prevents the formation of MAC on the

apoptotic signals to their target molecules.

resistance and improving treatment efficacy.

tional Erk1/2, p38, and Akt.

**2.2. Cancer cells reducing anti-apoptosis signals**

Notably, a class of proteins exerts anti-apoptosis and pro-apoptosis effects in the apoptosis pathway. These proteins include the Bcl-2 family and inhibitors of apoptosis proteins (IAPs). The Bcl-2 protein family can be classified into two functional groups—one of which has an inhibitory effect on apoptosis through inhibition of MAC formation, such as Bcl-2, Bcl-XL, Bcl-w, Mcl-1, Ced-9, while the other has a promoting effect on apoptosis by promotion of MAC formation, such as Bax, Bak, Bik, Bid, and Harakiri [10]. IAPs are the family of caspase inhibitors, including survivin, livin, Bruce (Apollon), cIAP1, cIAP2, IAP-like protein 2 (ILP-2), the X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein (XIAP), and neuronal apoptosis inhibitory protein (NAIP) [11]. Obviously, the homeostasis between anti-apoptosis proteins and pro-apoptosis proteins is essential for cell survival.

In addition to the extrinsic pathway and the intrinsic pathway, there also exists caspaseindependent pathway. This pathway relies on apoptosis-inducing factors (AIFs). AIFs are flavoproteins present in the inner mitochondrial membrane [12], and exhibit the pro-apoptosis effect. AIFs are released into cytoplasm along with the increased permeability or the cleavage of mitochondria. Then, AIFs enter the nucleus and lead to chromatin condensation and break into fragments. Polster has studied the relationship of AIFs and mitochondrial ROS production [13]. Insufficient AIF would reduce the electron transport chain complex I, which relates to chronic neurodegeneration [14].

The cancer cells evade apoptosis via various mechanisms. Theoretically, in order to resist apoptosis, cancer cells would upregulate anti-apoptotic signals (e.g. Bcl-2, Akt, Mcl-1, etc.) and downregulate pro-apoptotic signals (e.g. Bax, Bak, Bad, etc.), initiate and implicate faulty apoptosis, etc. The detail is discussed below.

#### **2.1. Cancer cells resisting pro-apoptotic signals**

In human cancer cells, the downregulation of pro-apoptotic proteins (e.g. Bax, Bak, Bad, Bim, etc.) and the upregulation of anti-apoptotic proteins (e.g. Bcl-2, Akt, Mcl-1, etc.) hinder the formation of MAC, inhibiting the release of cytochrome C from mitochondria and leading to the immortal character of the cancer cells. For example, the increased ubiquitination level of Bax has been found to be positively correlated to tumor malignant degree [15]. The decreased expression of Bad has been observed in small-cell lung cancers (SCLC), breast carcinoma, and gastric cancer. Furthermore, cancer cells regulate Bim in the pro-transcriptional, transcriptional, and post-translational levels to disturb the interaction between Bim and Bak/Bax, and thus change the mitochondria's outer membrane permeabilization (MOMP). Overexpression of Bcl-2 inhibits cell death induced by a variety of cytotoxins, and enhances cell resistance to DNA damage factors and most chemotherapeutic drugs [16]. Bcl-2 has been shown to inhibit p53-mediated apoptosis but cannot inhibit p53 translocation toward nucleolus or p53-mediated growth arrest. The possible role of Bcl-2 is to block the activation of the apoptotic signals to their target molecules.

In addition, the abnormal expression of IAPs in cancer cells also increases cancer malignancies. The overexpression of IAPs abolishes the downstream caspase cascade. IAPs form a complex with the baculovirus-IAP repeat (BIR) domain of caspases, inhibiting the catalytic activity of caspases 3, 7, and 9 and blocking the process of apoptosis. cIAP1 inhibits apoptosis by binding to the BIR2 domain, which is used for activating caspases 3 and 7, resulting in ubiquitin-mediated proteasomal degradation. Werner et al. [17] have reported that upregulation of cIAP1/2 inhibits TRAIL-mediated apoptosis in follicular thyroid cancer. The IAPs have also been reported in interaction with NF-κB [18]. They are key molecules that regulate tumor cell apoptosis and chemo-sensitivity, developing new targets for reversing tumor cell resistance and improving treatment efficacy.
