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Updated: Jan 17, 2026
Author Spotlight: Understanding Cytokine-Induced Cell Death in Intestinal Epithelial Cells Using Human Organoids
Published on: August 2, 2024
Visualizing and mapping cell death: Biochemical tools, techniques and assays
Sadhna Soni1, Ashwini Nath Tiwari1, Amrendra Singh1
1Department of Bioscience and Biomedical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bhilai, Chhattisgarh, India.
Abstract:
Cell death is a fundamental process that plays a role in the development of multicellular organisms, tissue homeostasis, and fighting infections. Dysfunctional cell death signaling is associated with many diseases, including cancer. Most studied among multiple possible cell death pathways is apoptosis that is essential for various biological functions, including embryogenesis, aging, and the development of numerous diseases. This regulated cell death enables the removal of cells in a controlled manner, maintaining tissue homeostasis and aiding organismal development. Understanding cell death pathways can help develop new therapeutic strategies for treating diseases like cancer. For example, tumor cells often avoid apoptosis, which can lead to treatment resistance. Various groups of researchers believe that studying other cell death pathways, like necroptosis, pyroptosis, ferroptosis, and cuproptosis, may have high potential for cancer therapy. Numerous biochemical methods exist to detect, quantify, and analyze cell death pathways, each with unique principles, advantages, and limitations. A comprehensive understanding of these methods enables researchers to select appropriate techniques for their experimental contexts. This chapter systematically discusses the molecular and cellular changes related to various cell death pathways and the conventional and non-conventional methods used to investigate these processes.
Insights
Understanding diverse cell death pathways, including apoptosis and newer ones like ferroptosis, is crucial for developing novel cancer therapies. Investigating these processes aids in overcoming treatment resistance and improving patient outcomes.
Area of Science:
- Cellular Biology
- Molecular Biology
- Biochemistry
Background:
- Cell death is vital for multicellular organism development, tissue balance, and immunity.
- Dysregulated cell death contributes to diseases like cancer, where tumor cells often evade apoptosis, causing treatment resistance.
Purpose of the Study:
- To systematically review molecular and cellular changes in various cell death pathways.
- To discuss conventional and non-conventional methods for investigating cell death processes.
- To highlight the therapeutic potential of exploring cell death pathways beyond apoptosis for cancer treatment.
Main Methods:
- Review of existing literature on cell death mechanisms.
- Systematic discussion of biochemical and cellular analysis techniques.
- Comparative analysis of different cell death pathways (apoptosis, necroptosis, pyroptosis, ferroptosis, cuproptosis).
Main Results:
- Multiple cell death pathways exist, each with distinct molecular triggers and outcomes.
- Apoptosis evasion is a common mechanism of cancer treatment resistance.
- Emerging cell death pathways (necroptosis, pyroptosis, ferroptosis, cuproptosis) show promise for novel cancer therapies.
Conclusions:
- A thorough understanding of diverse cell death mechanisms and analytical methods is essential for advancing cancer therapeutics.
- Exploring non-apoptotic cell death pathways offers new avenues for overcoming drug resistance in cancer treatment.
- Selecting appropriate detection and quantification methods is critical for accurate cell death research.
