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Could an instance of forced cellular growth cause some cells to have their self-destruct mechanisms to malfunction or 'turn off'thus preventing apoptosis?

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What do you mean by "forced cell growth"? Cancer? Or something different? –  Chris Jan 4 '14 at 11:22

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It is trivial to assume that forced growth will overcome apoptosis which is what you see in the immortalized cell lines and in cancer.

But the interesting thing is that there are instances in which forced growth causes apoptosis. The classic example is of the brain in which expression of SV40 t-antigen to make cells proliferative actually caused loss of tissue [1,2].

Knockdown of Aif (apoptosis inducing factor) also causes neurodegeneration and thymic hypoplasia by causing increase in oxidative damage.

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