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Bax alpha perturbs T cell development and affects cell cycle entry of T cells.
Author(s) -
Brady H. J.,
GilGómez G.,
Kirberg J.,
Berns A. J.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
the embo journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 7.484
H-Index - 392
eISSN - 1460-2075
pISSN - 0261-4189
DOI - 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1996.tb01091.x
Subject(s) - biology , microbiology and biotechnology , cell cycle , alpha (finance) , cell , biophysics , genetics , medicine , construct validity , nursing , patient satisfaction
Bax alpha can heterodimerize with Bcl‐2 and Bcl‐X(L), countering their effects, as well as promoting apoptosis on overexpression. We show that bax alpha transgenic mice have greatly reduced numbers of mature T cells, which results from an impaired positive selection in the thymus. This perturbation in positive selection is accompanied by an increase in the number of cycling thymocytes. Further to this, mature T cells overexpressing Bax alpha have lower levels of p27Kip1 and enter S phase more rapidly in response to interleukin‐2 stimulation than do control T cells, while the converse is true of bcl‐2 transgenic T cells. These data indicate that apoptotic regulatory proteins can modulate the level of cell cycle‐controlling proteins and thereby directly impact on the cell cycle.