It might enable us to develop whole new drugs by looking at telomere-specific damage because we have evidence here that it works. Our results present a rational mechanism through which the drug etoposide works. We can now modify that drug, experiment with its structure, and make drugs that work better or that have fewer side effects. During apoptosis, the cell releases enzymes that chop its DNA into fragments. The cell withers and dies, white blood cells move in to clean up the remains, and a possible cancer has been averted.
Apoptosis is the body's way of replacing old, worn-out, potentially damaged cells.
But occasionally a cell is somehow able to escape apoptosis and become malignant. The process of apoptosis was discovered in 1972, said Altaf Wani, professor of radiology and a member of the Molecular, Cellular, Carcinogenesis, and Epidemiology Program at Ohio State's Comprehensive Cancer Center. But little research was devoted to it until 16 years later. Then the light bulbs go on. People were probably seeing it in their own work but not understanding it.