Apoptosis Induction by TRAIL

In 1995, the tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) was identified on the basis of sequence homology to the other members of the TNF family (1 ). Like TNF and CD95 ligand (CD95L/FasL/ APO-1L), TRAIL (APO-2L) has been been shown to be a potent inducer of apoptosis in various cancer cell lines (2 -4 ). However, in contrast to injection of TNF or CD95L, which are both lethal to mice (5 ), TRAIL exerts potent antitumor activity in vivo without exhibiting systemic toxicity (6 -10 ). Thus, treatment with TRAIL might be a promising therapeutic approach for many solid tumors.