Is TRAIL the holy grail of cancer therapy?

Inducing apoptosis has become an important approach in the development of new anti-cancer treatments. Tumour necrosis factor apoptosis inducing ligand (TRAIL) based therapies have emerged as one of the most promising examples of this as they selectively induce apoptosis in tumour cells. However, many primary tumours are inherently resistant to TRAIL-mediated apoptosis and require additional sensitisation. Here we review apoptotic and non-apoptotic TRAIL-signalling, and the therapeutic effects of TRAIL-based treatments both as monotherapy and in combination with sensitising agents.