Failure of Apoptosis and Cancer Metastasis

This book summarizes recent reports on adhesion-dependent regulation of apoptosis. The author discusses data indicating that highly metastatic cancer cells exhibit a superior survival ability and resistance to apoptosis induced by diverse external signals. He also shows that increased survival of metastatic cancer cells compared to nonmetastatic or poorly metastatic cells is associated with their enhanced galectin-mediated homotypic aggregation and dysfunction of adhesion-dependent regulation of apoptosis. Profound deficiency of two major apoptosis execution mechanisms has been identified as a main characteristic of apoptosis failure in metastatic cancer cells.