Progress on targeting TRAIL’s receptor as antitumor strategy

There exist two major apoptotic signaling pathways: the intrinsic mitochondria-mediated pathway, and the extrinsic death receptor-induced pathway.  TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL), which is the ligand for death receptor 4 (DR4) and death receptor 5 (DR5) and induces apoptosis by ligation with DR4 or DR5.  We review the characteristic of TRAIL and its receptors, the mechanism of apoptosis induced by TRAIL, the distribution of death receptors in cancer, and applications and prospects of TRAIL signaling pathway in the treatment of cancer.