Feature

Coming to Terms with Death

Accurate descriptions of a cell's demise may offer clues to diseases and treatments

Death is a part of living�and an essential one. From conception onward, cells divide over and over again. Their endless proliferation would quickly lead to elephantine bodies were it not for a compensating death of cells.

Thriving cancer cell (left) lacks the vacuoles–clear, fluid-filled patches–that characterize cell undergoing paraptosis (right), a novel form of cell suicide. ~~ Sperandio et. al /PNAS

Normal bladder cancer cells (left). Treated with vitamins C and K3 for an hour, such cells shrink in size and lose their cytoplasm (right). Filiments (red arrows) linking cells and small blebs (curved arrows) indicate that membranes are breaking down via autoschizis. ~~ J. Gilloteaux et. al.; Left used with permission of Scanning.