Can cells show negative growth?
When you look at a certain mass of cells (in a petri dish, a tumor, whatever) which are in principle viable, growth can go in both directions. It can be poitive which means that the number of cells is growing over time.

It can also be negative, which results in a declining number of cells over time. We see this effect in cell growth assays, when we analyze the effect of certain treatments to our cells. Since we want to "kill" our cells with the treatment, a positive growth would indicate an unsuccessful treatment, a negative cell growth a positive treatment effect.