Molecular mechanisms of cell death: recommendations of the Nomenclature Committee on Cell Death 2018

Lorenzo Galluzzi, Department of Radiation Oncology, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY, USA. deadoc@vodafone.it.
Ilio Vitale, Department of Biology, University of Rome "Tor Vergata", Rome, Italy.
Stuart A. Aaronson, Department of Oncological Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA.
John M. Abrams, Department of Cell Biology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA.
Dieter Adam, Institute of Immunology, Kiel University, Kiel, Germany.
Patrizia Agostinis, Cell Death Research & Therapy (CDRT) Lab, Department of Cellular & Molecular Medicine, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
Emad S. Alnemri, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Kimmel Cancer Center, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Lucia Altucci, Department of Biochemistry, Biophysics and General Pathology, University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli", Napoli, Italy.
Ivano Amelio, Medical Research Council (MRC) Toxicology Unit, Leicester University, Leicester, UK.
David W. Andrews, Biological Sciences, Sunnybrook Research Institute, Toronto, Canada.
Margherita Annicchiarico-Petruzzelli, Biochemistry Laboratory, Dermopatic Institute of Immaculate (IDI) IRCCS, Rome, Italy.
Alexey V. Antonov, Medical Research Council (MRC) Toxicology Unit, Leicester University, Leicester, UK.
Eli Arama, Department of Molecular Genetics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel.
Eric H. Baehrecke, Department of Molecular, Cell and Cancer Biology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA, USA.
Nickolai A. Barlev, Institute of Cytology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Saint-Petersburg, Russia.
Nicolas G. Bazan, Neuroscience Center of Excellence, Louisiana State University School of Medicine, New Orleans, LA, USA.
Francesca Bernassola, Department of Experimental Medicine and Surgery, University of Rome "Tor Vergata", Rome, Italy.
Mathieu J. Bertrand, VIB Center for Inflammation Research (IRC), Ghent, Belgium.
Katiuscia Bianchi, Centre for Molecular Oncology, Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK.
Mikhail V. Blagosklonny, Cell Stress Biology, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY, USA.
Klas Blomgren, Department of Women's and Children's Health, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.
Christoph Borner, Institute of Molecular Medicine and Cell Research, Albert Ludwigs University, Freiburg, Germany.
Patricia Boya, Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology, Center for Biological Investigation (CIB), Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Madrid, Spain.
Catherine Brenner, INSERM U1180, Châtenay Malabry, France.
Michelangelo Campanella, Department of Biology, University of Rome "Tor Vergata", Rome, Italy.
Eleonora Candi, Biochemistry Laboratory, Dermopatic Institute of Immaculate (IDI) IRCCS, Rome, Italy.
Didac Carmona-Gutierrez, Department Institute of Molecular Biosciences, NAWI Graz, University of Graz, Graz, Austria.
Francesco Cecconi, Department of Biology, University of Rome "Tor Vergata", Rome, Italy.
Francis K-M Chan, Department of Pathology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA, USA.
Navdeep S. Chandel, Department of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, USA.
Emily H. Cheng, Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA.
Jerry E. Chipuk, Department of Oncological Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA.
John A. Cidlowski, Signal Transduction Laboratory, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, NIH, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA.

Abstract

Over the past decade, the Nomenclature Committee on Cell Death (NCCD) has formulated guidelines for the definition and interpretation of cell death from morphological, biochemical, and functional perspectives. Since the field continues to expand and novel mechanisms that orchestrate multiple cell death pathways are unveiled, we propose an updated classification of cell death subroutines focusing on mechanistic and essential (as opposed to correlative and dispensable) aspects of the process. As we provide molecularly oriented definitions of terms including intrinsic apoptosis, extrinsic apoptosis, mitochondrial permeability transition (MPT)-driven necrosis, necroptosis, ferroptosis, pyroptosis, parthanatos, entotic cell death, NETotic cell death, lysosome-dependent cell death, autophagy-dependent cell death, immunogenic cell death, cellular senescence, and mitotic catastrophe, we discuss the utility of neologisms that refer to highly specialized instances of these processes. The mission of the NCCD is to provide a widely accepted nomenclature on cell death in support of the continued development of the field.