Synergistic Antitumour Properties of viscumTT in Alveolar Rhabdomyosarcoma

Figure 7

Scheme for viscumTT-induced apoptosis via the extrinsic and the intrinsic signalling pathways. Through yet unknown mechanisms, viscumTT activates caspase-8 (CASP8) and caspase-10 (CASP10), resulting in an activation of the caspase cascade. Caspase-9 (CASP9) acts as an effector downstream of CASP8 and CASP10 rather than an initiator of apoptosis. Further, viscumTT downregulates antiapoptotic proteins B-cell lymphoma 2 (BCL2), BCL2 like 1 (BCL2L1), and myeloid cell leukemia 1 (MCL1) as well as inhibitors of apoptosis proteins baculoviral IAP repeat containing 5 (BIRC5) and X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein (XIAP), thus shifting the balance towards apoptosis.