ABSTRACT
The malignant phenotype is not irreversible. Many agents are known to induce or restore a more differentiated or “normal” phenotype to malignant cells.1-7 Agents that can induce a differentiated phenotype in malignant cells are called differentiation-inducing agents. The action of many of these differentiation-inducing agents in a variety of cancer cell types in vitro has been reported.1-7 How differentiation-inducing agents act to restore a “normal” phenotype to malignant cells has been under intense investigation over the past two to three decades. The goal of such investigation has been to identify differentiation-inducing agents with therapeutic potential and/or differentiation associated cellular mechanisms with potential for therapeutic intervention.
