(+)-Bicuculline

"Apoptosis & Autophagy in Cancer: Cell Survival by Eluding Cell Death The ability of tumor cells to elude programmed cell death, also known as apoptosis, is a hallmark of most types of cancer. Similary, autophagy is a highly regulated, homeostatic degradative process where cells destroy their own components via the lysosomal machinery and recycle them for prolonged cell survival. Via extensive crosstalk with pro-apoptotic signaling pathways, autophagy can also contribute to cell death and greatly influence general cell health. Elucidating the correlation between autophagy and apoptotic cell death has become the focus of a great deal of research, particularly in tumor biology. On one hand, autophagy may induce cell death by degrading essential components; on the other hand, it may facilitate survival of cancer cells under unfavorable metabolic conditions."