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Updated: Aug 25, 2026

Strategies for Tracking Anastasis, A Cell Survival Phenomenon that Reverses Apoptosis
Published on: February 16, 2015
An introduction to the molecular mechanisms of apoptosis
Sylvie Delhalle1, Annelyse Duvoix, Michaël Schnekenburger
1Laboratoire de Recherche sur le Cancer et les Maladies du Sang (RCMS), Centre Universitaire de Luxembourg, L-1511 Luxembourg, Luxembourg.
Abstract:
Apoptosis is a type of cell death that has been observed and studied for more than a century. The process of apoptosis was described as "programmed cell death" in 1964, and the term apoptosis, from a Greek word meaning "to fall away from" and describing the fall of dead leaves from trees in autumn, was only coined in 1972. During the last 30 years, this type of cell death has been extensively investigated and the molecular mechanisms underlying this cell suicide well characterized. Apoptosis is a physiological phenomenon necessary to tissue and body genesis and homeostasis, but defects in its regulation may cause numerous diseases, including cancer. Investigating the mechanisms of apoptosis is thus important to discover new cellular regulators that could be potential targets for new death-inducing drugs.
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Overview of Cell Death
Cell death was observed in the early 19th century, but there was no experimental evidence to prove it. In 1842, Carl Vogt first discovered cell death in a metamorphic toad; however, it was not termed ‘cell death.’ Scientists discovered different cell death pathways only in the 20th century...

