80 results about "Apoptotic cell death" patented technology

The invention relates to small molecules which function as inhibitors of anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 family member proteins (e.g., Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL). The invention also relates to the use of these compounds for inducing apoptotic cell death and sensitizing cells to the induction of apoptotic cell death.

It has now been determined that antisense therapy which reduces the expression of TRPM-2 provides therapeutic benefits in the treatment of cancer. In particular, such antisense therapy can be applied in treatment of prostate cancer and renal cell cancer. Addition of antisense TRPM-2 ODN to prostatic tumor cells in vivo is effective for delaying the onset of androgen independence. Thus, prostate cancer can be treated in an individual suffering from prostate cancer by initiating androgen-withdrawal to induce apoptotic cell death of prostatic tumor cells in the individual, and administering to the individual a composition effective to inhibit expression of TRPM-2 by the tumor cells, thereby delaying the progression of prostatic tumor cells to an androgen-independent state in an individual Combined use of antisense TRPM-2 and taxanes synergistically enhances cytotoxic chemosensitivity of androgen-independent prostate cancer. In addition, it has also been found that antisense TRPM-2 has beneficial effect for other cancer types. Specifically, antisense TRPM-2 ODN enhances chemosensitivity in human Renal cell cancer, a normally chemoresistant disease with no active chemotherapeutic agent having an objective response rate higher than 10%. Radiation sensitivity is also enhanced when cells expressing TRPM-2 are treated with antisense TRPM-2 ODN. Thus, the antisense TRPM-2 ODNs can be used to enhance hormone sensitivity, chemosensitivity and radiation sensitivity of a variety of cancer types in which expression of TRPM-2 has been observed.

The present invention relates to compositions and methods for reducing cell proliferation and/or promoting cell death by inhibiting Drp1. It is based, at least in part, on the discoveries that (i) Drp1 disruption-induced mitochondrial hyperfusion is functionally linked to the cell cycle regulation apparatus, so that Drp1 inhibition results in a disruption of the cell cycle and DNA aberrancies; (ii) inhibition of both Drp1 and ATR are synthetic lethal causing increased DNA damage and apoptotic cell death; and (iii) even in resistant cell lines, Drp1 inhibitor (e.g., mdivi-1) together with a second antiproliferative agent (e.g., cisplatin or carboplatin) act synergistically to promote apoptosis. Accordingly, the present invention provides for novel anticancer strategies.

The invention relates to heteroaryl-substituted bicyclic mimetics of Smac which function as inhibitors of Inhibitor of Apoptosis Proteins. The invention also relates to the use of these mimetics for inducing apoptotic cell death and for sensitizing cells to inducers of apoptosis.

A novel neuroprotective agent is disclosed for the treatment and prevention of neurodegenerative disorders which is based on the administration of an effective amount of a tellurium compound which has a specific ability to induce the differentiation and interfere with apoptotic cell death pathways of neuronal PC-12 cells.

The present invention relates to erastin analogs, particularly compounds of formulae I and II, including compounds 1-20, 22-24, 34, and 40. The invention also relates to pharmaceutical compositions containing such analogs and to methods of treating conditions in a mammal with such analogs and pharmaceutical compositions.

The present invention relates to the use of split caspase proteins to determine whether or not promoters are coordinately active, whereby the transcriptional expression of incomplete portions of a caspase protein is controlled by different promoters and coordinate (not necessarily contemporaneous) promoter activity results in formation of an activated caspase protein and, consequently, apoptotic cell death. The present invention further provides for the use of an additional promoter element controlling expression of a “caspase neutralizing protein,” which, when present, inhibits the apoptotic effect of the assembled caspase subunits. Rescue of cells that actively transcribe the complementary caspase subunits indicates that all promoters of the system are coordinately active. The present invention, in non-limiting embodiments, may be used to selectively ablate cells in the context of cultures as well as intact organisms, and provides means of demonstrating coordinate activity of multiple promoters.