Chapter 7 Self-check questions

. Which one of the following statements about the Bcl-2 family is false?

Pro-apoptotic members of the Bcl-2 family are Bax and Bak.

The release of important apoptosis mediators from the mitochondria is mediated by the anti-apoptotic members only.

Pro-apoptotic and anti-apoptotic members of the Bcl-2 family can interact with each other via protein-protein interactions.

Anti-apoptotic factors are Bcl-2 and Bcl-x_L.

. Which one of the following statements about apoptosis is false?

The aim of conventional chemotherapies is to inhibit apoptosis.

In the absence of apoptosis, conventional chemotherapies lead to the accumulation of mutations.

For chemotherapy to be successful, cells must be able to trigger apoptosis.

Gene mutations that inhibit apoptosis lead to drug resistance.

. Which one of the following statements about the apoptosome is correct?

Cytochrome B, caspase-9, ATP and Apaf-1 are components of the apoptosome.

Cytochrome C, procaspase-9, ATP and Apaf-1 are components of the apoptosome.

Bcl-2, ATP, caspase-8 and caspase-9 are components of the apoptosome.

Procaspase-9, Bax, cytochrome C and Apaf-1 are components of the apoptosome.

. Which one of the following statements about apoptosis is false?

It is an important tumor suppression mechanism.

It may be triggered by extracellular death signals that act via the extrinsic pathway.

It may be triggered by internal stimuli such as DNA damage.

It is unregulated cell death characterized by cell swelling.

. Which one of the following statements is false?

Most anti-apoptotic genes are proto-oncogenes.

Mutations in Fas receptors have been found in skin cancer.

Oncogenic activation of Bcl-2 is associated with lymphoma.

Gain of caspase-8 expression is linked with lung cancer.

. Which one of the following statements correctly explains why direct apoptotic inducers may be a better drug strategy than conventional chemotherapy?

They bypass the need to be mutagenic and avoid therapy related leukemias.

They target a host mechanism and not the tumor.

They all involve gene therapy

They will target tyrosine kinase activity in order to induce apoptosis.

. Which one of the statements below about the intrinsic pathway of apoptosis is false?

The intrinsic pathway is mediated by the mitochondria.

The intrinsic pathway of apoptosis depends on death factors TNF and Fas.

Internal stimuli, such as DNA damage and oxidative stress, induce the intrinsic pathway of apoptosis.

The intermembrane space between the 2 mitochondrial membranes acts as a supply cabinet for apoptotic mediators of the intrinsic pathway.

. Drugs being developed as direct apoptotic inducers include all of the following except:

Smac mimetics that inhibit XIAP such as birinapant

5-fluorouracil.

IAP antisense oligonucleotides such as GEM640

Recombinant human TRAIL.

. How does p53 trigger apoptosis?

By transcription-dependent means only as mutants that lack a DNA binding domain could not induce apoptosis

By transcription-independent means involving direct activation of Bcl-2.

By binding directly the death receptors such as Fas.

By inducing the transcription of genes that code for pro-apoptotic proteins.

. Which statement about alternative cell death pathways is false?

Mutations in genes whose products induce alternative death pathways have been found in human cancers.

They use alternative proteases instead of caspases.

Important components are stored in the mitochondrial intermembrane space.

Drugs that induce alternative cell death pathways are not yet in clinical trials.

. In the laboratory, scientists can detect apoptosis by which of the following methods?

RNA interference.

The TUNEL technique, that uses nick end-labelling.

Immunoassay.

Affinity chromatography.

. The first approved drug that can target apoptosis directly by inhibiting BCL2 is:

G3139

Venetoclax.

Birinapant

Tamoxifen

. Which of the following is true about TRAIL?

Normal cells are more sensitive to TRAIL than cancer cells

Cancer cells are more sensitive to TRAIL than normal cells

TRAIL receptors are a subfamily of the BCL2 family.

TRAIL receptor triggers the intrinsic pathway of apoptosis.

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