Aug. 4, 2009 The role of a protein called XIAP in the regulation
of cell death has been identified by Walter and Eliza Hall
Institute researchers and has led them to recommend caution when
drugs called IAP inhibitors are used to treat cancer patients
with underlying liver conditions. A team led by Professor
Andreas Strasser from the institute's Molecular Genetics of
Cancer division has found that XIAP (X-chromosome-linked
inhibitor of apoptosis protein) is the critical factor that
determines which of two pathways will be followed to culminate
in a cell's death. Programmed cell death (also called apoptosis)
removes unwanted and dangerous cells from our bodies, protecting
us against cancer development and diseases where the immune
system attacks the body's own tissues, such as in insulin-
dependent diabetes. This cell death process is activated by
proteins on the surface of cells. The most prominent of these
cell surface proteins is FAS, but curiously it does not always
activate apoptosis the same way, Professor