“…Overexpression of human MDA-7/IL-24 causes growth arrest and induces apoptosis or toxic autophagy in a variety of tumor cells including malignant gliomas (Lebedeva et al, 2002; Su et al, 2003; Yacoub et al, 2008; Yacoub et al, 2010a; Hamed et al, 2013b), melanomas (Lebedeva et al, 2002; Chada et al, 2006; Sarkar et al, 2008) and carcinomas of breast (Su et al, 1998; Sarkar et al, 2005; Chada et al, 2006; Bhutia et al, 2013; Li et al, 2013), lung (Kawabe et al, 2002; Nishikawa et al, 2004; Inoue et al, 2007; Gupta et al, 2008), ovary (Leath et al, 2004; Gopalan et al, 2005; Gopalan et al, 2007; Yacoub et al, 2010b), kidney (Park et al, 2009; Eulitt et al, 2010; Park et al, 2011; Hamed et al, 2013a), colon (Emdad et al, 2007; Lebedeva et al, 2007; Azab B, In press) and prostate (Lebedeva et al, 2003; Sarkar et al, 2007; Dash et al, 2011; Azab B, In press). Importantly, none of the normal cells tested underwent apoptosis when exposed to MDA-7/IL-24, indicating that its effects are cancer-specific (Jiang et al, 1996; Fisher, 2005; Dash et al, 2010a; Dent et al, 2010a; Dent et al, 2010b).…”