Caspase-3 and prostaglandins signal for tumor regrowth in cancer therapy

Chemo-and radio-therapeutic regimens frequently kill cancer cells by inducing apoptosis, a cell-death subroutine that involves the activation of a particular class of proteases called caspases. In a recent issue of Nature Medicine, Huang et al. (2011) show that caspase activation in dying tumor cells causes the release of soluble lipid messengers, notably prostaglandin E 2, that stimulate tumor cell proliferation. In this short review, we will discuss the clinical and therapeutic implications of these findings.