Apoptosis in the development of the immune system

davidd submitted, created time 11 months 3 weeks (www.nature.com)

During differentiation, apoptosis ensures that lymphocytes express functional antigen receptors and is essential for eliminating lymphocytes with dangerous self-reactive specificities. Many of these critical cell death checkpoints during immune development are regulated by the BCL-2 family of proteins, which is comprised of both pro- and antiapoptotic members, and members of the tumor necrosis factor death receptor family. This review will describe how apoptosis regulates these critical control points during immune development.

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Preventing the propagation of chromosome breaks in lymphocytes

addict submitted, created time 1 year 5 months (www.cell.com)

DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) induce a signal transmitted by the ataxia-telangiectasia mutated (ATM) kinase, which suppresses illegitimate joining of DSBs and activates cell-cycle checkpoints. Here we show that a significant fraction of mature ATM-deficient lymphocytes contain telomere-deleted ends produced by failed end joining during V(D)J recombination. These RAG-1/2 endonuclease-dependent, terminally deleted chromosomes persist in peripheral lymphocytes for at least 2 weeks in vivo and are stable over several generations in vitro

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CD8+ T-Cell Responses Identify ß-Cell Autoimmunity in Human Type 1 Diabetes

julie submitted, created time 1 year 9 months (diabetes.diabetesjournals.org)

Despite the understanding that type 1 diabetes pathogenesis is mediated by T-cells, detection of these rare lymphocytes remains largely elusive. Suitable T-cell assays are highly needed, since they could offer preclinical diagnoses and immune surrogate end points for clinical trials.

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