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Glucocorticoids Activate a Suicide Program in Mature T Lymphocytes:
Author(s) -
NIETO MARÍA ANGELA,
LÓPEZRIVAS ABELARDO
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
annals of the new york academy of sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.712
H-Index - 248
eISSN - 1749-6632
pISSN - 0077-8923
DOI - 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1992.tb49106.x
Subject(s) - dna fragmentation , concanavalin a , glucocorticoid , apoptosis , programmed cell death , fragmentation (computing) , lysis , glucocorticoid receptor , biology , dna , microbiology and biotechnology , chemistry , endocrinology , biochemistry , in vitro , ecology
Viability of T cell blasts obtained by concanavalin A stimulation of mouse spleen cells markedly decreases when these cells are exposed to glucocorticoid hormones in the absence of interleukin-2. The mechanism underlying the lysis of the mature lymphocytes seems to correspond to the apoptotic type of cell death inasmuch as an early degradation of DNA into oligonucleosome-length fragments is observed. Moreover, glucocorticoid-induced DNA fragmentation is delayed in the presence of an inhibitor of protein synthesis. Induction of the cell death program by glucocorticoids is most likely mediated through the interaction with a specific glucocorticoid receptor as suggested by the structure-activity relationship of the various steroids tested. Interestingly, the presence of a saturating dose of IL-2 during the treatment of concanavalin A blasts with glucocorticoids totally abolished DNA fragmentation and cell lysis.