And if the cell actually commits to apatosis, what it does is it will follow a series of reactions that will eventually kill that cell off. So in a way, apatosis is cell suicide. Now the next question is why in a world would a cell actually want to kill itself off? Why would a cell want to commit suicide? Well, one of two reasons as it turns out. Apatosis is a normal process during embryological development and it's also normal process during the development of our immune system.