Elsevier

Seminars in Immunology

Volume 9, Issue 1, February 1997, Pages 17-23
Seminars in Immunology

Regular Article
Functional cloning of genes involved in T-cell receptor-induced programmed cell death

https://doi.org/10.1006/smim.1996.0057Get rights and content

Abstract

Programmed cell death (PCD) is a normal event under genetic control that regulates the life span of different cell types in multicellular organisms. Among other physiological processes, PCD plays a pivotal role in the regulation of the immune system. Using a functional selection strategy we have isolated and characterized genes involved in T-cell receptor-induced apoptosis. One,ALG-2, is a Ca2+-binding protein that participates in regulatory events that occur late in the apoptotic program, where several death signals converge. Another,ALG-3, is a mouse homologue of the chromosome 1 familial Alzheimer's disease genePS2. ALG-3 codes for a truncated PS2 polypeptide that antagonizes the apoptotic role of PS2. A PS2 mutation associated with Alzheimer's disease generates a molecule with enhanced apoptotic activity indicating that it might accelerate the process of neurodegeneration that occurs in this disease.

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