04-082026
From single-cell fate divergence to extracellular protease–mediated terminal events: redefining necrotic cell death
This study provides two key conceptual advances in our understanding of cell death. First, it reveals that even under identical death-inducing conditions, individual cells can adopt distinct fates, thereby highlighting an unexpected level of heterogeneity and establishing cell death regulation at single-cell resolution. Second, it demonstrates that plasma membrane rupture alone might not represent the terminal endpoint of necrosis; instead, necrosis includes a downstream execution phase characterized by extracellular protease–mediated proteolysis.
