Serpins in T cell immunity.
Serine protease inhibitors (serpins) are a family of proteins that are important in the regulation of several biological processes. This mainly involves the inhibition of serine proteases, although some serpins inhibit a different class of proteases or even function without inhibitory activity. In contrast to other protease inhibitor families, serpins inhibit their target proteases by a specific mechanism, which depends on a change in conformation. This review primarily focuses on one subgroup of serpins--ovalbumin (ov)-serpins. Different than most members of the family, this group of serpins lacks secretion signal sequences and therefore, mainly functions intracellularly. In addition to expression in most normal tissues, ov-serpins can be found in multiple different cells of the immune system. Interestingly, expression of ov-serpins in these cells is tightly regulated, indicating a role for these serpins in the regulation of immune responses. The role of serpins in the immune response will be the topic of this review.
Bots
Michael
M
Laboratory of Experimental Oncology and Radiobiology, Center for Experimental and Molecular Medicine, Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. michael.bots@petermac.org
Medema
Jan Paul
JP
D018414:CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007156:Immunologic Memory; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology; D010047:Ovalbumin / Q000502:physiology; D015843:Serpins / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism
D015843:Serpins; D010047:Ovalbumin