Diversity and complexity of cell death: a historical review

Abstract

Death is the inevitable fate of all living organisms, whether at the individual or cellular level. For a long time, cell death was believed to be an undesirable but unavoidable final outcome of nonfunctioning cells, as inflammation was inevitably triggered in response to damage. However, experimental evidence accumulated over the past few decades has revealed different types of cell death that are genetically programmed to eliminate unnecessary or severely damaged cells that may damage surrounding tissues. Several types of cell death, including apoptosis, necrosis, autophagic cell death, and lysosomal cell death, which are classified as programmed cell death, and pyroptosis, necroptosis, and NETosis, which are classified as inflammatory cell death, have been described over the years. Recently, several novel forms of cell death, namely, mitoptosis, paraptosis, immunogenic cell death, entosis, methuosis, parthanatos, ferroptosis, autosis, alkaliptosis, oxeiptosis, cuproptosis, and erebosis, have been discovered and advanced our understanding of cell death and its complexity. In this review, we provide a historical overview of the discovery and characterization of different forms of cell death and highlight their diversity and complexity. We also briefly discuss the regulatory mechanisms underlying each type of cell death and the implications of cell death in various physiological and pathological contexts. This review provides a comprehensive understanding of different mechanisms of cell death that can be leveraged to develop novel therapeutic strategies for various diseases.

Repurposing of Antifungal Drug Flucytosine/Flucytosine Cocrystals for Anticancer Activity against Prostate Cancer Targeting Apoptosis and Inflammatory Signaling Pathways

“…The FCN cocrystals also cause DU145 prostate cancer cells to undergo apoptosis by upregulating caspase-3. Caspase-3 is the final messenger of the intrinsic apoptosis signaling pathway, which is initiated by oxidative stress and signaling molecules like Bax, cytochrome c, p53, pro-caspase-9, and caspase-3 . All of the findings point to the fact that MMA causes triple-negative prostate cancer cells to undergo programmed cell death.…”

To be a transit link: Similarity in the structure of colonial system of integration and communication pores in autozooids and avicularia of Terminoflustra membranaceotruncata (Bryozoa: Cheilostomata)

“…Another possible cause of storage cell degradation is an abrupt release of nutrients that ends with programmed cell death (PCD). There is a vast literature describing various types of PCD (e.g., reviewed in Ameisen, 2002; Bertheloot et al, 2021; Park et al, 2023; Parzych & Klionsky, 2014; Tang et al, 2019; Zhuang et al, 2022), but it largely concerns their biochemical features. I did not find exact morphological similarities between the cells undergoing described types of PCD and degrading storage cells in T. membranaceotruncata , but neither interpretation can be confirmed or rejected given the gaps in our knowledge.…”

Could natural terpenes be an alternative for the treatment of neglected tropical diseases?

“…Apoptosis is an energy-dependent cell death mechanism involving various morphological and biological alterations such as cellular shrinkage, depolarization of the mitochondrial membrane, production of ROS, chromatin degradation, and condensation (Jiménez-Ruiz et al, 2010;Park et al, 2023). Interestingly, grandiflorenic acid (1) induced apoptosis-related effects in L. amazonensis promastigotes such as cell rounding, cell volume reduction (49.2%), depolarization of the mitochondrial membrane, increased ROS production, and phosphatidylserine exposure (Bortoleti et al, 2018).…”

“…Both compounds displayed considerable toxicity against E. granulosus protoscoleces, with LC 50 values of 16.14 μM and 31.23 μM, respectively (Tabari et al, 2019). Additionally, compound 27 shows antiprotozoal and nematocidal activity (Bailén et al, 2022;Lima et al, 2021;Pacheco et al, 2022;Pereira Filho et al, 2023). The compounds isofuranodiene (29) and beta-myrcene (30) have been found to possess moderate activity against E. granulosus protoscoleces.…”