Bcl-2 family proteins: regulators of chemoresistance in cancer.

Knowledge about the mechanisms that regulate the expression of the family of BCL-2 genes and the biochemical characteristics of their encoded proteins is beginning to provide new insights into the origins of cancer and our all too often inability to adequately treat it. With better understanding of the functional significance of these protein-protein interactions involving Bcl-2, Bax, and other members of the Bcl-2 protein family and with insights into the structural details of these interactions, it may eventually be possible to develop novel pharmacological agents that improve tumor responses to currently available anticancer drugs and that have other clinically relevant uses as well.