Anticancer drugs of tomorrow: apoptotic pathways as targets for drug design

Apoptosis or programmed cell death is a set of ordered events that enables the selective removal of cells from tissue and is essential for homeostasis and proper function of multicellular organisms. Components of this signaling network, which include ligands, such as CD95, tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand, as well as downstream molecules, such as caspases, Bcl-2 family members, and inhibitor-of-apoptosis proteins, which trigger and regulate apoptosis, are crucial targets for conventional drug development and gene therapy of cancer and other diseases. Here, we focus on apoptotic pathways and propose new potential molecular targets that could prove effective in controlling cell death in the clinical setting.