Autoschizis is a term derived from the Greek roots "auto" meaning self, and "skhizein" to split. It used to describe a novel form of cancer cell

Cancer cell

Cancer cells are cells that grow and divide at an unregulated, quickened pace. Although cancer cells can be quite common in a person they are only malignant when the other cells fail to recognize and/or destroy them. In the past a common belief was that cancer cells failed to be recognized and...

 death characterized by a reduction in cell size that occurs due to the loss of cytoplasm

Cytoplasm

The cytoplasm is a small gel-like substance residing between the cell membrane holding all the cell's internal sub-structures , except for the nucleus. All the contents of the cells of prokaryote organisms are contained within the cytoplasm...

 through self-excision (the cell splits open) without the loss of cell organelles, morphologic

Morphology (biology)

In biology, morphology is a branch of bioscience dealing with the study of the form and structure of organisms and their specific structural features....

 degradation of the cells nucleus

Cell nucleus

In cell biology, the nucleus is a membrane-enclosed organelle found in eukaryotic cells. It contains most of the cell's genetic material, organized as multiple long linear DNA molecules in complex with a large variety of proteins, such as histones, to form chromosomes. The genes within these...

 and nucleolus

Nucleolus

The nucleolus is a non-membrane bound structure composed of proteins and nucleic acids found within the nucleus. Ribosomal RNA is transcribed and assembled within the nucleolus...

 without the formation of apoptotic bodies

Apoptosis

Apoptosis is the process of programmed cell death that may occur in multicellular organisms. Biochemical events lead to characteristic cell changes and death. These changes include blebbing, cell shrinkage, nuclear fragmentation, chromatin condensation, and chromosomal DNA fragmentation...

 and destruction of the cell membrane

Cell membrane

The cell membrane or plasma membrane is a biological membrane that separates the interior of all cells from the outside environment. The cell membrane is selectively permeable to ions and organic molecules and controls the movement of substances in and out of cells. It basically protects the cell...

. The cell death results from karyorrhexis

Karyorrhexis

Karyorrhexis is the destructive fragmentation of the nucleus of a dying cell whereby its chromatin is distributed irregularly throughout the cytoplasm. It is usually preceded by pyknosis and is followed by karyolysis and can occur as a result of either programmed cell death or necrosis....

 and karyolysis

Karyolysis

Karyolysis is the complete dissolution of the chromatin matter of a dying cell due to the activity of DNase. The whole cell will eventually stain uniformly with eosin after karyolysis. It is usually preceded by karyorrhexis and occurs mainly as a result of necrosis, while in apoptosis after...

. Autoschizis can be initiated via in vivo

In vivo

In vivo is experimentation using a whole, living organism as opposed to a partial or dead organism, or an in vitro controlled environment. Animal testing and clinical trials are two forms of in vivo research...

 treatment with Vitamin C

Sodium ascorbate

Sodium ascorbate is a more bioavailable form of vitamin C that is an alternative to taking ascorbic acid as a supplement. The molecular formula of this chemical compound is C6H7NaO6...

 (VC), synthetic Vitamin K

Menadione

Menadione is a synthetic chemical compound sometimes used as a nutritional supplement because of its vitamin K activity. It is an analog of 1,4-naphthoquinone with a methyl group in the 2-position.-Terminology:...

(VK3) or a combination of both. The treatment has been tested on various types of cancers with positive results.