Entosis: it's a cell-eat-cell world

In this issue, Overholtzer et al. (2007) describe a new nonapoptotic cell death pathway termed "entosis" in mammary epithelial cells that have detached from the extracellular matrix (ECM). Given that surviving detachment from the ECM is an event associated with the progression of epithelial cancers, entosis--along with apoptosis--may contribute to tumor suppression by promoting the elimination of cancer cells.