Apoptosis
Apoptosis is programmed cell death of individual cells. Apoptosis is an active cellular process which involves genes, activation of enzymes, signalling, and DNA fragmentation. Studies revealed that most of the genes and proteins needed to operate in apoptosis already exist in cells and thus indicates that apoptosis is cell suicide. Unlike necrotic cells, apoptotic cells do not induce an inflammatory response but are targets for phagocytosis by macrophages. Failure of cells to undergo apoptosis at a normal rate most likely contributes to the pathogenesis of many malignancies or ageing related diseases.