Apoptosis(细胞凋亡)一词源于希腊文,意指树叶自枝条或花瓣从花托上脱落、凋谢的过程。细胞凋亡又称程序性细胞死亡,是一种在特定时空主动发生的、受基因严密调控的细胞逐渐死亡现象。虽然科学家在半个世纪以前就观察到正常生长发育过程中有细胞凋亡的现象存在,但一直不了解其生物学意义。直到20世纪90年代初,分子肿瘤学研究发现,细胞凋亡与肿瘤的发生、发展,以及与肿瘤治疗中的细胞死亡有密切关系,这才引起 The term Apoptosis (apoptosis) originates from the Greek word and refers to the process of leaves falling off the shoots or petals from the receptacles. Apoptosis, also known as programmed cell death, is a phenomenon in which cells that are actively regulated in a specific time and space are closely regulated by genes. Although scientists observed cell apoptosis during normal growth and development half a century ago, their biological significance has not been known. Until the early 1990s, molecular oncology studies found that apoptosis is closely related to the occurrence and development of tumors, and to cell death in tumor therapy.