New Advance in Caspase-Independent Programmed Cell Death and its Potential in Cancer Therapy

Caspase activation has been frequently viewed as synonymous with programmed cell death (PCcD); however, accumulating evidence showed that there existing caspase-independent PCcD pathways displaying morphologies that are not fully consistent with classical apoptosis. In this article, we will focus on the most recent progresses of different models of PCcD independent of caspases activity. Since some tumor cells can unexpectedly survive the activation of caspases, and tumor suppressor proteins that activate caspase-independent PCcD are commonly mutated in human cancer, the alternative cell death pathways are gaining increasing interest among cancer researchers. Though the mechanism of this cell death pathway is poorly understood, it is clear that a full understanding of the regulation of caspase-independent PCcD could provide new means of improving current diagnosis and promoting conceptual advances for the design of new therapeutic strategies for cancer therapy.