Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Treatment is hampered by an incomplete understanding of the mechanisms underlying carcinogenesis and, consequently, by the absence of... Show moreCancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Treatment is hampered by an incomplete understanding of the mechanisms underlying carcinogenesis and, consequently, by the absence of therapies to specifically eradicate cancer cells without harming normal, healthy cells. Intriguingly, the avian-virus derived protein apoptin was found to selectively induce apoptosis in transformed and tumor cells, heralding the advent of a new era in cancer treatment. The aim of this thesis was to discover the path followed by apoptin to distinguish between normal and cancer cells, and selectively kill the latter, in order to a) get to the root of the problem that is cancer, and b) provide the knowledge which is necessary to design novel, more selective, more effective, safe anti-tumor therapies. To this end, we identified a number of apoptin-interacting proteins, and studied their roles in tumor-selective apoptin-induced apoptosis. Show less
