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Apoptosis
Apoptosis or programmed cell death. It is a normal, intrinsically programmed cellular mechanism through which cells self-destruct in response to an internal signal.
This phenomenon ends in the death of individual cells, in certain places at specific times. Apoptosis is the mechanism the organism uses to rid itself of non-utilisable, undesirable and potentially noxious cells.
This mode of cell death serves to balance cell multiplication (also called homeostasis) by regulating the size of tissues. Apoptosis occurs in many other biological processes such as embryonic development, and the regulation and functioning of the immune system.
Apoptosis is often deregulated by the development of a cancer.