Forsøg har påvist, at bortezomib er cytotoksisk over for en række cancercelletyper, og at cancerceller er mere følsomme over for proapoptotiske virkninger af proteasom- hæmning end normale celler.
Experiments have demonstrated that bortezomib is cytotoxic to a variety of cancer cell types and that cancer cells are more sensitive to the pro-apoptotic effects of proteasome inhibition than normal cells.