The simple fact that cancer cells survive beyond their normal 'die by' date has only in the past decade been incorporated into our understanding of tumorigen-esis. How transformed cells evade death provides insights not only into cancer, but also into the molecular mechanisms of apoptotic cell death, which eliminates those normal cells that might turn cancerous. On page 699 of this issue, Pitti et al. report a newly discovered mechanism that tumours use to avoid a death signal—the production of a soluble molecule which binds to, and neutralizes, a trigger for apoptosis.
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