Apoptosis

Apoptosis describes the programmed cell death, the deliberate suicide of a cell in a multicellular organism for the greater good of the whole individual. In contrast to necrosis?, apoptosis occurs naturally during development, for example, the differentiation of human finger?s requires the cells in between the fingers to initiate apoptosis so the fingers can separate.

Apoptosis also occurs when a cell is damaged beyond repair, or infected with a virus. The "decision" for apoptosis can come from the cell itself, or from a call that is part of the immune system. If the apoptosis program of a cell itself is damaged (by mutation), or if the initiation is blocked (by a virus), a damaged cell can start growing without restrictions, developing into cancer.

See also: Immunology -- Biochemistry

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