Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL are critical regulators of apoptosis that are overexpressed in a variety of human cancers and pharmacological inhibition of Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL represents a promising strategy for cancer treatment. Using a structure-based design approach, we have designed BM-1197 as a potent and efficacious dual inhibitor of Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL. BM-1197 binds to Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL proteins with Ki valu...

Loss of myocardial cells via apoptosis has been observed in many cardiovascular diseases and has been shown to contribute to the initiation and progression of heart failure. The Bcl-2 family members are important regulators of the mitochondrial pathway of apoptosis. These proteins decide whether the mitochondria should initiate the cell death program and release proapoptotic factors such as cyt...

Bcr-Abl tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) have become the standard of care for patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). Indeed, patients experience high response rates and long-term survival with continuous TKI treatment. However, TKIs rarely cure CML due to their inability to target CML stem cells. Consequently, CML will soon become the most prevalent leukemia with 100,000 patients in the...

A synergistic interaction of Bcl-2 and c-Myc plays a role in lymphomagenesis in mice and in some patients as well. Progression of follicular lymphoma to a more aggressive lymphoma is seen in the majority of patients, and approximately 10% of the transformed lymphomas have a translocation of c-myc in addition to the translocation of bcl-2 found in the original follicular lymphoma. We investigate...

The Bcl-2 family of proteins play a prominent role in the regulation of apoptosis. From the initial identification of bcl-2 as an oncogene in follicular lymphoma through genetic studies in Caenorhabditis elegans to recent functional studies focusing on the importance of mitochondrial events in cell death signalling, the members of this protein family continue to be implicated in pivotal decisio...