title: [Apoptosis in immunology].
abstract: Apoptosis is the physiological cell death, and recent studies have revealed that apoptosis plays an important role in the various fields of immunology. Especially, in the formation of T or B cell repertoires, the cells reactive to self antigens are eliminated by the induction of apoptosis, whereas the cells competent to react against foreign antigens are saved for survival by the suppression of apoptosis. Furthermore, apoptosis is employed as the destruction mechanism of target cells in killer T cells or NK cells. The disturbance of apoptosis-mechanism, therefore, will be strongly relevant for the etiology of autoimmune diseases and carcinogenesis.
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Microbiology, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tadakuma
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000954:Antigens, Surface / Q000276:immunology; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D015704:CD4 Antigens / Q000276:immunology; D016827:CD8 Antigens / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D019014:fas Receptor
chemical_list: D000954:Antigens, Surface; D015704:CD4 Antigens; D016827:CD8 Antigens; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2; D019014:fas Receptor