apoptosis

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἀπόπτωσις (apóptōsis, “a falling off”), from ἀπό (apó, “away from”) + πτῶσις (ptôsis, “falling”).

noun

1. (biology, cytology) A process of programmed cell death by which cells undergo an ordered sequence of events which leads to death of the cell, as occurs during growth and development of the organism, as a part of normal cell aging, or as a response to cellular injury.
   The term apoptosis is proposed for a hitherto little recognized mechanism of controlled cell deletion, which appears to play a complementary but opposite role to mitosis in the regulation of animal cell populations. 1972, J. F. R. Kerr, A. H. Wyllie, A. R. Currie, “Apoptosis: A Basic Biological Phenomenon with Wide-ranging Implications in Tissue Kinetics”, in British journal of cancer, volume 26, →DOI
   Indeed, so important is apoptosis that it is gradually becoming clear that almost all therapeutic cancer treatment works only because it induces apoptosis by alerting p53 and its colleagues. 1999, Matt Ridley, Genome, Harper Perennial, published 2004, page 238
   Apoptosis is routine in developmental processes such as the removal of webbing between fingers in humans, the loss of tadpole tails in amphibians, and insect metamorphosis. 2011, Terence Allen, Graham Cowling, The Cell: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford, page 74