Decoding Cell Death: From a Veritable Library of Babel to Vade Mecum?

2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 791-817
Author(s):  
Lindsey D. Hughes ◽  
Yaqiu Wang ◽  
Alexandre P. Meli ◽  
Carla V. Rothlin ◽  
Sourav Ghosh

Programmed cell death (PCD) is a requisite feature of development and homeostasis but can also be indicative of infections, injuries, and pathologies. In concordance with these heterogeneous contexts, an array of disparate effector responses occur downstream of cell death and its clearance—spanning tissue morphogenesis, homeostatic turnover, host defense, active dampening of inflammation, and tissue repair. This raises a fundamental question of how a single contextually appropriate response ensues after an event of PCD. To explore how complex inputs may together tailor the specificity of the resulting effector response, here we consider ( a) the varying contexts during which different cell death modalities are observed, ( b) the nature of the information that can be passed on by cell corpses, and ( c) the ways by which efferocyte populations synthesize signals from dying cells with those from the surrounding microenvironment.

Author(s):  
Gargi Sachin Sarode ◽  
Sachin C. Sarode ◽  
Nikunj Maniyar ◽  
Nilesh Kumar Sharma ◽  
Shankargouda Patil

The effective removal of cells undergoing programmed cell death, which is referred to as efferocytosis, prevents the leakage of intracellular contents into the surrounding tissue, which could lead to tissue damage and inflammation. Efferocytosis involves a coordinated orchestration of multiple steps that lead to a swift, coherent and immunologically silent removal of dying cells. The release of wound healing cytokines, which resolve inflammation and enhance tissue repair, is an important feature of efferocytosis. However, in addition to the healing cytokines released during efferocytosis, the immunosuppressive action of cytokines promotes the tumor microenvironment, enhances the motility of cancer cells and promotes the evasion of antitumor immunity. The aim of the present review was to comprehensively discuss the efferocytosis phenomenon, the important players associated with this process and their role in cancer-related biological events.


Development ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 117 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.M. Abrams ◽  
K. White ◽  
L.I. Fessler ◽  
H. Steller

The deliberate and orderly removal of cells by programmed cell death is a common phenomenon during the development of metazoan animals. We have examined the distribution and ultrastructural appearance of cell deaths that occur during embryogenesis in Drosophila melanogaster. A large number of cells die during embryonic development in Drosophila. These cells display ultrastructural features that resemble apoptosis observed in vertebrate systems, including nuclear condensation, fragmentation and engulfment by macrophages. Programmed cell deaths can be rapidly and reliably visualized in living wild-type and mutant Drosophila embryos using the vital dyes acridine orange or nile blue. Acridine orange appears to selectively stain apoptotic forms of death in these preparations, since cells undergoing necrotic deaths were not significantly labelled. Likewise, toluidine blue staining of fixed tissues resulted in highly specific labelling of apoptotic cells, indicating that apoptosis leads to specific biochemical changes responsible for the selective affinity to these dyes. Cell death begins at stage 11 (approximately 7 hours) of embryogenesis and thereafter becomes widespread, affecting many different tissues and regions of the embryo. Although the distribution of dying cells changes drastically over time, the overall pattern of cell death is highly reproducible for any given developmental stage. Detailed analysis of cell death in the central nervous system of stage 16 embryos (13-16 hours) revealed asymmetries in the exact number and position of dying cells on either side of the midline, suggesting that the decision to die may not be strictly predetermined at this stage. This work provides the basis for further molecular genetic studies on the control and execution of programmed cell death in Drosophila.


1993 ◽  
Vol 106 (1) ◽  
pp. 201-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Garcia-Martinez ◽  
D. Macias ◽  
Y. Ganan ◽  
J.M. Garcia-Lobo ◽  
M.V. Francia ◽  
...  

In this work we have attempted to characterize the programmed cell death process in the chick embryonic interdigital tissue. Interdigital cell death is a prominent phenomenon during limb development and has the role of sculpturing the digits. Morphological changes in the regressing interdigital tissue studied by light, transmission and scanning electron microscopy were correlated with the occurrence of internucleosomal DNA fragmentation, evaluated using agarose gels. Programming of the cell death process was also analyzed by testing the chondrogenic potential of the interdigital mesenchyme, in high density cultures. Our results reveal a progressive loss of the chondrogenic potential of the interdigital mesenchyme, detectable 36 hours before the onset of the degenerative process. Internucleosomal DNA fragmentation was only detected concomitant with the appearance of cells dying with the morphology of apoptosis, but unspecific DNA fragmentation was also present at the same time. This unspecific DNA fragmentation was explained by a precocious activation of the phagocytic removal of the dying cells, confirmed in the tissue sections. From our observations it is suggested that programming of cell death involves changes before endonuclease activation. Further, cell surface changes involved in the phagocytic uptake of the dying cells appear to be as precocious as endonuclease activation.


Development ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 122 (4) ◽  
pp. 1165-1174 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.J. Blaschke ◽  
K. Staley ◽  
J. Chun

A key event in the development of the mammalian cerebral cortex is the generation of neuronal populations during embryonic life. Previous studies have revealed many details of cortical neuron development including cell birthdates, migration patterns and lineage relationships. Programmed cell death is a potentially important mechanism that could alter the numbers and types of developing cortical cells during these early embryonic phases. While programmed cell death has been documented in other parts of the embryonic central nervous system, its operation has not been previously reported in the embryonic cortex because of the lack of cell death markers and the difficulty in following the entire population of cortical cells. Here, we have investigated the spatial and temporal distribution of dying cells in the embryonic cortex using an in situ endlabelling technique called ‘ISEL+’ that identifies fragmented nuclear DNA in dying cells with increased sensitivity. The period encompassing murine cerebral cortical neurogenesis was examined, from embryonic days 10 through 18. Dying cells were rare at embryonic day 10, but by embryonic day 14, 70% of cortical cells were found to be dying. This number declined to 50% by embryonic day 18, and few dying cells were observed in the adult cerebral cortex. Surprisingly, while dying cells were observed throughout the cerebral cortical wall, the majority were found within zones of cell proliferation rather than in regions of postmitotic neurons. These observations suggest that multiple mechanisms may regulate programmed cell death in the developing cortex. Moreover, embryonic cell death could be an important factor enabling the selection of appropriate cortical cells before they complete their differentiation in postnatal life.


1994 ◽  
Vol 72 (11-12) ◽  
pp. 597-601 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reginald Halaby ◽  
Zahra Zakeri ◽  
Richard A. Lockshin

The labial gland of Manduca sexta is a valuable system to study the mechanisms of programmed cell death since the death of the gland is nearly synchronous and, except for the anterior duct, involves all of the tissue. The gland degenerates in 5 days during pupation. Our previous work documents a drop in total protein synthesis as the gland degenerates. To evaluate potential causes of this altered protein synthesis, we monitored several parameters of metabolism in dying cells: levels of adenosine triphosphate to estimate the energy resources of the gland; reduction of 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide to assess mitochondrial respiration; levels of acid phosphatase to assay lysosomal enzyme activity; and concentrations of cyclic nucleotides and inositol triphosphate to monitor signaling. While protein synthesis fell precipitously on day 0, total adenosine triphosphate and mitochondrial respiration were unchanged until the cells underwent massive collapse on day 3. Lysosomal acid phosphatase increased during early metamorphosis, and ultimately the bulk of the cytoplasm was destroyed in autophagic vacuoles. Changes in the concentrations of second messengers were modest and late. The relationships between the metabolism and the collapse of the labial gland are under investigation.Key words: programmed cell death, Manduca sexta, energetics, lysosomes, second messengers, protein synthesis.


Genetics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacob Klemm ◽  
Michael J Stinchfield ◽  
Robin E Harris

Abstract Regeneration is a complex process that requires a coordinated genetic response to tissue loss. Signals from dying cells are crucial to this process and are best understood in the context of regeneration following programmed cell death, like apoptosis. Conversely, regeneration following unregulated forms of death such as necrosis have yet to be fully explored. Here we have developed a method to investigate regeneration following necrosis using the Drosophila wing imaginal disc. We show that necrosis stimulates regeneration at an equivalent level to that of apoptosis-mediated cell death and activates a similar response at the wound edge involving localized JNK signaling. Unexpectedly however, necrosis also results in significant apoptosis far from the site of ablation, which we have termed necrosis-induced apoptosis (NiA). This apoptosis occurs independent of changes at the wound edge and importantly does not rely on JNK signaling. Furthermore, we find that blocking NiA limits proliferation and subsequently inhibits regeneration, suggesting that tissues damaged by necrosis can activate programmed cell death at a distance from the injury to promote regeneration.


2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (9) ◽  
pp. 180442 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ho Man Tang ◽  
Ho Lam Tang

Anastasis is a natural cell recovery phenomenon that rescues cells from the brink of death. Programmed cell death such as apoptosis has been traditionally assumed to be an intrinsically irreversible cascade that commits cells to a rapid and massive demolition. Interestingly, recent studies have demonstrated recovery of dying cells even at the late stages generally considered immutable. Here, we examine the evidence for anastasis in cultured cells and in animals, review findings illuminating the potential mechanisms of action, discuss the challenges of studying anastasis and explore new strategies to uncover the function and regulation of anastasis, the identification of which has wide-ranging physiological, pathological and therapeutic implications.


Development ◽  
1991 ◽  
Vol 113 (3) ◽  
pp. 825-839 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Wolff ◽  
D.F. Ready

The regular, reiterated cellular pattern of the Drosophila compound eye makes it a sensitive amplifier of defects in cell death. Quantitative and histological methods reveal a phase of cell death between 35 and 50 h of development which removes between 2 and 3 surplus cells per ommatidium. The timing of this epoch is consistent with cell death as the last fate to be specified in the progressive sequence of cell fates that build the ommatidium. An ultrastructural survey of cell death suggests dying cells in the fly eye have similarities as well as differences with standard descriptions of programmed cell death. A failure of cell death to remove surplus cells disorganizes the retinal lattice. A screen of rough eye mutants identifies two genes, roughest and echinus, required for the normal elimination of cells from the retinal epithelium. The use of an enhancer trap as a cell lineage marker shows that the cone cells, like other retinal cells, are not clonally related to each other or to their neighbors.


1994 ◽  
Vol 345 (1313) ◽  
pp. 247-250 ◽  

During Drosophila development, large numbers of cells undergo natural cell death. Even though the onset of these deaths is controlled by many different signals, most of the dying cells undergo common morphological and biochemical changes that are characteristic of apoptosis in vertebrates. We have surveyed a large fraction of the Drosophila genome for genes that are required for programmed cell death by examining the pattern of apoptosis in embryos homozygous for previously identified chromosomal deletions. A single region on the third chromosome (in position 75C1,2) was found to be essential for all cell deaths that normally occur during Drosophila embryogenesis. We have cloned the corresponding genomic DNA and isolated a gene, reaper , which is capable of restoring apoptosis when reintroduced into cell death defective deletions. The reaper gene is specifically expressed in cells that are doomed to die, and its expression precedes the first morphological signs of apoptosis by 1-2 h. This gene is also rapidly induced upon X-ray irradiation, and reaper deletions offer significant protection against radiation-induced apoptosis. Our results suggest that reaper represents a key regulatory switch for the activation of apoptosis in response to a variety of distinct signals.


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