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MINI REVIEW article

Front. Cell Dev. Biol.
Sec. Cancer Cell Biology
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fcell.2024.1408107

Small molecule Mcl-1 inhibitor for triple negative breast cancer therapy

Provisionally accepted
Suresh Alahari Suresh Alahari 1*Shengli Dong Shengli Dong 2
  • 1 LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, Louisiana State University, New Orleans, United States
  • 2 Independent researcher, Shanghai, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Apoptosis is an evolutionarily conserved cell death pathway that plays a crucial role in maintaining tissue homeostasis, orchestrating organismal development, and eliminating damaged cells. Dysregulation of apoptosis can contribute to the pathogenesis of malignant tumors and neurodegenerative diseases. Anticancer drugs typically possess the capacity to induce apoptosis in tumor cells. The Bcl-2 protein family, consisting of 27 members in humans, serves as the key regulator of mitochondrial function. This family can be divided into two functional groups: anti-apoptotic proteins (e.g., Bcl-2, Bcl-xl, Mcl-1) and pro-apoptotic proteins (e.g., Bad, Bax). Mcl-1 exerts its function by binding pro-apoptotic Bcl-2 proteins thereby preventing apoptosis induction. Overexpression of Mcl-1 not only correlates closely with tumorigenesis but also associates significantly with resistance towards targeted therapy and conventional chemotherapy. Effective induction of apoptosis can be achieved through inhibition or interference with Mcl-1. Thus, this mini review discusses existing Mcl-1 inhibitors.

    Keywords: Cancer, Apoptosis, inhibitor, drug, therapy

    Received: 27 Mar 2024; Accepted: 23 Aug 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Alahari and Dong. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Suresh Alahari, LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, Louisiana State University, New Orleans, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.