It is now possible to lay out a provisional apoptotic signaling circuitry; while incomplete, it is evident that most regulatory and effector components are present in redundant form. This redundancy holds important implications for the development of novel types of anti-tumour therapy, since tumour cells that have lost proapoptotic components are likely to retain other similar ones. We anticipate that new technologies will be able to display the apoptotic pathways still operative in specific types of cancer cells and that new drugs will enable cross-talk between the still intact components of parallel apoptotic signaling pathways in tumour cells, resulting in restoration of the apoptotic defense mechanism, with sustained therapeutic benefit.