Modulation of Caspase-Independent Cell Death Leads to Resensitization of Imatinib Mesylate-Resistant Cells

Posted by rob on March 31, 2009 under Uncategorized | Comments are off for this article

Imatinib mesylate is widely used for the treatment of patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). This compound is very efficient in killing Bcr-Abl–positive cells in a caspase-dependent manner. Nevertheless, several lines of evidence indicated that caspase-mediated cell death (i.e., apoptosis) is not the only type of death induced by imatinib. The goal of our study was to evaluate the importance of the newly described caspase-independent cell death (CID) in Bcr-Abl–positive cells. We established in several CML cell lines that imatinib, in conjunction with apoptosis, also induced CID. CID was shown to be as efficient as apoptosis in preventing CML cell proliferation and survival. We next investigated the potential implication of a recently identified mechanism used by can…