Life and death in the thymus--cell death signaling during T cell development.
Curr Opin Cell Biol
; 22(6): 865-71, 2010 Dec.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-20810263
ABSTRACT
The thymus is an organ vital to proper T cell development, and the regulation of cell survival and death contributes significantly to its efficient function. Vital to many of the developmental processes that occur in the thymus, control over cell survival and death is orchestrated by several signaling processes. In this review, we focus on the regulation of death in early thymocytes known as CD4/CD8 double negative cells, including the roles of interleukin-7 and Bcl-2 family members in this developmental stage. We next consider the survival and death of later thymocytes that express both CD4 and CD8, the 'double-positive' thymocytes. These findings are discussed within the context of recent studies demonstrating the existence of caspase-independent cell death pathways.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Thymus Gland
/
T-Lymphocytes
/
Signal Transduction
/
T-Lymphocyte Subsets
/
Cell Death
Limits:
Animals
Language:
En
Journal:
Curr Opin Cell Biol
Year:
2010
Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
United States