Autophagic cell death (ACD) is a controversial form of
programmed cell death
Programmed cell death (PCD) sometimes referred to as cell, or cellular suicide is the death of a cell (biology), cell as a result of events inside of a cell, such as apoptosis or autophagy. PCD is carried out in a biological process, which usual ...
that is
morphologically distinct from
apoptosis
Apoptosis (from ) is a form of programmed cell death that occurs in multicellular organisms and in some eukaryotic, single-celled microorganisms such as yeast. Biochemistry, Biochemical events lead to characteristic cell changes (Morphology (biol ...
and
necrosis
Necrosis () is a form of cell injury which results in the premature death of cells in living tissue by autolysis. The term "necrosis" came about in the mid-19th century and is commonly attributed to German pathologist Rudolf Virchow, who i ...
.
While
autophagy
Autophagy (or autophagocytosis; from the Greek language, Greek , , meaning "self-devouring" and , , meaning "hollow") is the natural, conserved degradation of the cell that removes unnecessary or dysfunctional components through a lysosome-depe ...
is generally considered a cellular survival mechanism, ACD occurs when excessive or dysregulated autophagy leads to the cell's demise.
This type of cell death is characterized by the large-scale accumulation of
autophagosomes, giving the cell a
vacuolated appearance.
However, the exact mechanisms and circumstances under which autophagy transitions from a protective process to a lethal one remain subjects of ongoing debate.
References
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Programmed cell death