Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Cell biology

Dying to hold you

Certain cells bind so tightly to each other that, on occasion, one cell ends up inside another, usually with fatal consequences for the ingested cell. This involuntary cell death might help protect us from cancer.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Breaching the limit of intimacy.

References

  1. Overholtzer, M. et al. Cell 131, 966–979 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Frisch, S. M. & Francis, H. J. Cell Biol. 124, 619–626 (1994).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Jacobson, M. D., Weil, M. & Raff, M. C. Cell 88, 347–354 (1997).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Vaux, D. L. & Korsmeyer, S. J. Cell 96, 245–254 (1999).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Galluzzi, L. et al. Cell Death Differ. 14, 1237–1243 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Savill, J. & Fadok, V. Nature 407, 784–788 (2000).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Abodief, W. T., Dey, P. & Al-Hattab, O. Cytopathology 17, 304–305 (2006).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Adams, C. L., Chen, Y.-T., Smith, S. J. & Nelson, W. J. J. Cell Biol. 142, 1105–1119 (1998).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Pokutta, S. & Weis, W. I. Annu. Rev. Cell. Dev. Biol. 23, 237–261 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Doukoumetzidis, K., Hengartner, M. Dying to hold you. Nature 451, 530–531 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/451530a

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/451530a

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing