A critical role for the autophagy gene Atg5 in T cell survival and proliferation.
Journal Article (Journal Article)
Macroautophagy (hereafter referred to as autophagy) is a well-conserved intracellular degradation process. Recent studies examining cells lacking the autophagy genes Atg5 and Atg7 have demonstrated that autophagy plays essential roles in cell survival during starvation, in innate cell clearance of microbial pathogens, and in neural cell maintenance. However, the role of autophagy in T lymphocyte development and survival is not known. Here, we demonstrate that autophagosomes form in primary mouse T lymphocytes. By generating Atg5-/- chimeric mice, we found that Atg5-deficient T lymphocytes underwent full maturation. However, the numbers of total thymocytes and peripheral T and B lymphocytes were reduced in Atg5 chimeras. In the periphery, Atg5-/- CD8+ T lymphocytes displayed dramatically increased cell death. Furthermore, Atg5-/- CD4+ and CD8+ T cells failed to undergo efficient proliferation after TCR stimulation. These results demonstrate a critical role for Atg5 in multiple aspects of lymphocyte development and function and suggest that autophagy may be essential for both T lymphocyte survival and proliferation.
Full Text
Duke Authors
Cited Authors
- Pua, HH; Dzhagalov, I; Chuck, M; Mizushima, N; He, Y-W
Published Date
- January 22, 2007
Published In
Volume / Issue
- 204 / 1
Start / End Page
- 25 - 31
PubMed ID
- 17190837
Pubmed Central ID
- PMC2118420
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
- 0022-1007
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
- 10.1084/jem.20061303
Language
- eng
Conference Location
- United States