Anastasis: Reality or Fiction?

Increased resistance to the apoptosis-inducing stimuli, as well as the reversibility of the process of cell death, are currently recognized as the mechanisms that tumor cells use for survival, maintenance of malignancy, and metastasis. The term "anastasis" was introduced to describe the reversibility of cell death. We have previously shown that mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are resistant to receptor-mediated apoptosis. In this work, the possibility of anastasis in three types of mesenchymal cells (human liver and placental MSCs and skin fibroblasts) was studied after exposure to common cell death inducers ethanol, staurosporine, or doxorubicin. We have shown that restoration of cell morphology and proliferation occurs after treatment with non-lethal doses of ethanol and low concentration of doxorubicin, while staurosporine at non-lethal concentrations produces an irreversible cytostatic effect.