Apoptosis

Dear Colleagues,

Cellular suicide is a fundamental property of animal cells from worms to humans and is essential for the life of an organism. Every second at least one million cells die by apoptosis in the human body. These deaths play roles in a multitude of processes including embryogenesis, development, defense against cancer and infections, self-tolerance in the immune system, etc.

Since the inception of the term in 1972 by Kerr, Wyllie, and Currie, the field of apoptosis has witnessed an outburst of findings and had several paradigm shifts. Studies have revealed the origins of apoptotic machinery going back over a billion years and have uncovered a variety of ways which cells have developed to activate and suppress the apoptotic program.

As the field expanded further, the very concept of apoptotic cell elimination changed. Today apoptosis is no longer viewed as an individual cellular event, but includes the externally-controlled elimination of apoptotic cells by phagocytes in the waste-management phase. At present apoptosis enjoys a celebrity status in cell biology. As the number of publications in the field skyrockets, it is essential to maintain high visibility of individual research. This is the compelling advantage of Open Access journals, such as Cells. This special issue of Cells is dedicated to Apoptosis. We welcome contributions about its mechanisms, role in normal and pathological processes and new techniques for its detection and analysis.  Reviews as well as original papers are invited.

Dr. Vladimir V. Didenko
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Cells is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.