title: CD95 antigen mutations in hematopoietic malignancies.
abstract: The CD95 receptor, also known as Fas/Apo-1, is a member of the Tumor Necrosis Factor receptor (TNF-R) family of death receptors. Apoptosis mediated by CD95 plays a central role in maintaining homeostasis of the immune system. Dysregulation of the CD95 apoptotic pathway has been proposed as a mechanism of oncogenesis by providing a survival advantage to potentially malignant cells. This extended lifespan could allow the accumulation of further mutations leading to malignant transformation. Several mechanisms of resistance to CD95 mediated apoptosis have been identified, including reduced surface expression of the receptor, overexpression of anti-apoptotic molecules, and loss of function mutations. This review will focus on the potential role of the CD95-CD95 ligand system in the pathogenesis of hematological malignancies, with particular emphasis on recent work from our laboratory examining the expression of CD95 in B cell lymphomas. We demonstrate that CD95 mutations occur at low frequency in NHL tumors, however, surface expression of the CD95 protein varies with the subtype of lymphoma. Loss of surface CD95 is more likely to occur in lymphomas of aggressive histology, and is unrelated to the detection of CD95 mutations.
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Interdisciplinary Oncology, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, University of South Florida, Tampa 33612, USA.
authors.forename: T H
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Landowski
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Moscinski
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Burke
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Buyuksal
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Painter
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Goldstein
authors.forename: W S
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Dalton
mesh_terms: D017209:Apoptosis; D004252:DNA Mutational Analysis; D019337:Hematologic Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D009154:Mutation; D015202:Protein Engineering; D019014:fas Receptor / Q000235:genetics* / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D019014:fas Receptor