Apoptosis
Apoptosis is the controlled death of a cell. Apoptosis is used to get rid of cells that are not needed anymore by the body. This is especially important in normal growth. Apoptosis is designed into the cell's DNA and allows the cell to die without causing inflammation. The cell releases enzymes that destroy the cell from the inside. After the cell is dead, the left over parts are then removed by other special cells called phagocytes.
[change] Two ways of dying
Cells can die in two ways, by damage or by programmed cell death (apoptosis). When a cell dies by apoptosis, other cells do not react (there is no inflammation). When a cell dies because of damage, the cell's contents are left over and affect nearby cells.
[change] Controlling the cell cycle
Apoptosis is the normal end of a cell's life. At any point in time there may be too many cells in one area and the DNA coding for apoptosis will activate in some of those cells and they will die safely. This is important to the overall functioning of the organism. If, for example, the making of liver cells were to speed up and they never died, the liver would no longer function properly. The liver cells would eventually take over the organism's body.
[change] Cancer
Cancerous cells do not undergo apoptosis and that is why they are such a problem. They continuously multiply until the host organ or the organism's body cannot function anymore. This occurs because the apoptosis coding has mutated and so has other coding. This causes rapid mitotic division of the unwanted cells. This is a cancerous growth.
