Apoptosis and prognosis in cancer: rationale and relevance

Apoptosis is the biological process by which cells in tissues undergo progr ammed death, This process is morphologically identifiable and characterised by light and electron microscopy, However, the biological mechanisms under lying this process, as yet, are poorly understood and in need of elucidatio n, As apoptotic tumour cells can be identified and counted by light microsc opy, there has been interest in the application of the enumeration of apopt osis in malignant growths as a putative prognostic marker, This review outl ines the rationale for and discusses the relevance of using such an approac h in clinical practice.