Cell death: a new classification separating apoptosis from necrosis

  • A. H. Wyllie
Chapter

Abstract

Studies of cell death in the past 20 years have reflected differing philosophies. Some workers saw it as a strictly pathological process, arising only in abnormal circumstances and producing manifestations of disease (see reviews by Trump and Mergner, 1974; Jennings, Ganote and Reimer, 1975). Their experimental models included disruption of metabolic regulation by various injurious agents, and their conclusions were orientated towards expanding our understanding of cellular events in certain diseases. Others, however, regarded cell death as a physiological phenomenon, necessary for the normal development and maintenance of tissue shape (see reviews by Glücksmann, 1951; Saunders, 1966). These workers drew their experimental material largely from embryonic tissues, and their conclusions sought to align cell death with other phenomena of differentiation. Still others were impressed by the frequency of cell death within tumours, as judged by indirect kinetic measurements (see Steel, 1977). This spontaneous cell death in tumours engendered particular interest amongst workers seeking novel approaches to the control of malignancy, as it gave some support to the view that tumour tissues are subject to residual homoeostatic mechanisms whose function in normal tissues would be to regulate cell numbers by balancing cell gain and loss (Laird, 1969).

Keywords

Cell Death Apoptotic Body Cytosine Arabinoside Cytoplasmic Organelle Epithelial Cell Death 
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