title: Autophagy induction and autophagic cell death in effector T cells.
abstract: The population size of the T cells is tightly regulated. The T cell number drastically increases in response to their specific antigens. Upon antigen clearance, the T cell number decreases over time. Apoptosis, also called type I programmed cell death, plays an important role in eliminating T cells. The role of autophagic cell death, also called type II programmed cell death, is unclear in T cells. Our recent work demonstrated that autophagy is induced in both Th1 and Th2 cells. Both TCR signaling and IL-2 increase autophagy in T cells, and JNK MAP kinases are required for the induction of autophagy in T cells, whereas caspases and mTOR inhibit autophagy in T cells. Autophagy is required for mediating growth factor withdrawal-dependent cell death in T cells. Here, we hypothesize that autophagic cell death plays an important role in T cell homeostasis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15261, USA. Binfeng@pitt.edu
authors.forename: Binfeng
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Capan
authors.forename: Changyou
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D001343:Autophagy; D002452:Cell Count; D016923:Cell Death; D016207:Cytokines; D018417:Th1 Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D018418:Th2 Cells / Q000166:cytology*
chemical_list: D016207:Cytokines