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apoptosis |
Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Medical, Wikipedia, Hutchinson | 0.04 sec. |
apoptosisor programmed cell deathMechanism that allows cells to self-destruct when stimulated by the appropriate trigger. It may be initiated when a cell is no longer needed, when a cell becomes a threat to the organism's health, or for other reasons. The aberrant inhibition or initiation of apoptosis contributes to many disease processes, including cancer. Though embryologists had long been familiar with the process of programmed cell death, not until 1972 was the mechanism's broader significance recognized. Apoptosis is distinguished from necrosis, a form of cell death that results from injury. |
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| Lymphocytes, in particular, undergo massive and apparently unregulated apoptosis in human patients and laboratory animals with sepsis, potentially playing a major role in the severe immunosuppression that characterizes the terminal phase of fatal illness. Studies have shown that inhibition or depletion of RLIP76, a glutathione-conjugate transport protein that helps cells defend themselves against toxicants, causes apoptosis in a number of cancer cell types. By reawakening the apoptosis that seems to fail in many tumor cells, J. |
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apoptosis
