Regulation of cancer cell survival by BCL2 family members upon prolonged mitotic arrest: opportunities for anticancer therapy.

Abstract

Attacking cancer cell survival defense by targeting B-Cell Lymphoma 2 (BCL2) family of anti-apoptotic proteins may provide a powerful means to improve chemotherapy efficiency. This could be particularly relevant to anti-mitotic-based therapy, where tumor response relates to a competing network between mitotic cell death signaling and mitotic slippage as an adaptative response to a leaky mitotic checkpoint. In this review, we focus on recent findings that point out the major role played by BCL2 family members in response to anti-mitotic agents, which reveal dependence of cancer cell survival on BCL2 homologs during mitotic arrest and after mitotic slippage. Finally, we discuss pre-clinical data combining anti-mitotic agents with BCL2 inhibitors.