Abstract

Evading programmed cell death is a major hallmark of cancer cells and contributes to tumor progression and therapy resistance. Emerging hallmarks such as metabolic plasticity, genomic instability and an immunosuppressive tumor environment allow the tumors to escape from standard cytotoxic as well as targeted therapies. Thus, understanding the underlying mechanisms in appropriate pre-clinical/clinical models is crucial for the design of more effective combination therapies to avoid treatment failure or tumor recurrence. The EACR Special Conference “A Matter of Life or Death: Mechanisms, Models and Therapeutic Opportunities” is the 5th Conference on this topic. Its objective is to cover recent and exciting developments in the field of cancer research that are crucial to our understanding of the multifaceted role of cell death in tumor initiation, progression and therapy response.