Think about all  the movies you've ever seen where the hero activates the self-destruct program. This gives you some clues into the architecture of an apoptosis process. If you want to design an orderly self-destruct process, you need at least three elements. You need a way to trigger the process. You need a way to execute the process. And you need a way to cancel self destruct if it the Klingons back down or you can't make it to the escape pod before the Alien gets your cat.

Sure enough, in apoptosis, these three processes and corresponding classes of molecules have been identified: initiators, executioners, and regulators.

She Canna' Take Much More O' Dis. Acute focal Klingonemia causes the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) to undergo apoptosis.