• role in cancer development

    TITLE: cancer: Apoptosis and cancer development
    SECTION: Apoptosis and cancer development
    ...tumours lead to a loss of programmed cell death. One mutation inactivates the p53 gene, which normally can trigger apoptosis. The second mutation affects a proto-oncogene called BCL-2, which codes for a protein that blocks cell suicide. When mutated, the BCL-2 gene produces excessive amounts of the BCL-2 protein, which prevents the apoptosis program from being...