Apoptosis is

Apoptosis is a pathway of cell death in which cells activate enzymes that degrade the cells' own nuclear DNA and nuclear and cytoplasmic proteins. Fragments of the apoptotic cells then break off, giving the appearance that is responsible for the name (apoptosis, "falling off").Apoptosis results from the activation of enzymes called caspases (so named because they are cysteine proteases that cleave proteins after aspaic residues)( Robbins Basic Pathology, 9th edition, page 19 )