Apoptosis and survival

The term apoptosis first appeared in the biomedical literature in 1972, to delineate a structurally distinctive mode of cell death responsible for cell loss within living tissues. The cardinal morphological features are cell shrinkage, accompanied by transient but violent bubbling and blebbing from the surface, and culminating in separation of the cell into a cluster of membrane-bounded bodies. Changes in several cell surface molecules also ensure that, in tissues, apoptotic cells are immediately recognised and phagocytosed by their neighbours. However, it is important to note that apoptosis is only one form of cell death and the particular death pathway that is the most important determinant for cancer therapy is not necessarily that which has the fastest kinetics, as is the bias in many laboratories, but rather that which displays the most sensitive dose-response relationship.