AICD (activation-induced cell death) is

programmed cell death Programmed cell death (PCD; sometimes referred to as cellular suicide) is the death of a cell (biology), cell as a result of events inside of a cell, such as apoptosis or autophagy. PCD is carried out in a biological process, which usually confers ...

caused by the interaction of

Fas receptor The Fas receptor, also known as Fas, FasR, apoptosis antigen 1 (APO-1 or APT), cluster of differentiation 95 (CD95) or tumor necrosis factor receptor superfamily member 6 (TNFRSF6), is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''FAS'' gene. Fas ...

s (Fas, CD95) and Fas ligands (FasL, CD95 ligand).Zhang J, Xu X, Liu Y. (2004), Activation-Induced Cell Death in T Cells and Autoimmunity. Cell Mol Immunol. 1(3):186-92 AICD is a negative regulator of activated

T lymphocytes A T cell is a type of lymphocyte. T cells are one of the important white blood cells of the immune system and play a central role in the adaptive immune response. T cells can be distinguished from other lymphocytes by the presence of a T-cell rec ...

that results from repeated stimulation of their

T-cell receptors A T cell is a type of lymphocyte. T cells are one of the important white blood cells of the immune system and play a central role in the adaptive immune response. T cells can be distinguished from other lymphocytes by the presence of a T-cell r ...

(TCR) and helps to maintain peripheral

immune tolerance Immune tolerance, or immunological tolerance, or immunotolerance, is a state of unresponsiveness of the immune system to substances or tissue that would otherwise have the capacity to elicit an immune response in a given organism. It is induced by ...

. Alteration of the process may lead to autoimmune diseases. The AICD effector cell is one that expresses FasL, and apoptosis is induced in the cell expressing the Fas receptor. Both activated T cells and

B cells B cells, also known as B lymphocytes, are a type of white blood cell of the lymphocyte subtype. They function in the humoral immunity component of the adaptive immune system. B cells produce antibody molecules which may be either secreted o ...

express Fas and undergo

clonal deletion In immunology, clonal deletion is the removal through apoptosis of B cells and T cells that have expressed receptors for self before developing into fully immunocompetent lymphocytes. This prevents recognition and destruction of self host cells, ...

by the AICD mechanism.Green DR, Droin N, Pinkoski M. (2003), Activation-induced cell death in T cells. Immunol Rev. 193:70-81 Activated T cells that express both Fas and FasL may be killed by themselves or by each other.

Signaling

The binding of Fas ligand to Fas receptor triggers

trimerization In chemistry, a trimer (; ) is a molecule or polyatomic anion formed by combination or association of three molecules or ions of the same substance. In technical jargon, a trimer is a kind of oligomer derived from three identical precursors ofte ...

of Fas, whose cytoplasmic domain is then able to bind the

death domain Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...

of the adaptor protein

FADD FAS-associated death domain protein, also called MORT1, is encoded by the ''FADD'' gene on the 11q13.3 region of chromosome 11 in humans. FADD is an adaptor protein that bridges members of the tumor necrosis factor receptor superfamily, such a ...

(Fas-associated protein with death domain). Procaspase 8 binds to FADD's

death effector domain The death-effector domain (DED) is a protein interaction domain found only in eukaryotes that regulates a variety of cellular signalling pathways. The DED domain is found in inactive procaspases (cysteine proteases) and proteins that regulate cas ...

(DED) and proteolytically self-activates as

caspase 8 Caspase-8 is a caspase protein, encoded by the ''CASP8'' gene. It most likely acts upon caspase-3. ''CASP8'' orthologs have been identified in numerous mammals for which complete genome data are available. These unique orthologs are also prese ...

. Fas, FADD, and procaspase 8 together form a death-inducing signaling complex (DISC). Activated caspase 8 is released into the cytosol, where it activates the caspase cascade that initiates apoptosis.

Regulation of Fas-FasL and AICD

FasL is primarily regulated at the transcriptional level. (The other option is regulation of the signal emanating from the

death receptor The tumor necrosis factor receptor superfamily (TNFRSF) is a protein superfamily of cytokine receptors characterized by the ability to bind tumor necrosis factors (TNFs) via an extracellular cysteine-rich domain. With the exception of nerve growt ...

itself, controlling sensitivity to the induction of apoptosis.)

NFAT Nuclear factor of activated T-cells (NFAT) is a family of transcription factors shown to be important in immune response. One or more members of the NFAT family is expressed in most cells of the immune system. NFAT is also involved in the developme ...

activated by TCR stimulation activates FasL transcription, possibly indirectly by upregulating

early growth response proteins Early growth response proteins are a family of zinc finger transcription factors. Members of the family include: * EGR1, EGR2 Early growth response protein 2 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''EGR2'' gene In biology, the wor ...

. T cell activation-induced

transcription Transcription refers to the process of converting sounds (voice, music etc.) into letters or musical notes, or producing a copy of something in another medium, including: Genetics * Transcription (biology), the copying of DNA into RNA, the fir ...

of FasL is further regulated by

c-Myc ''Myc'' is a family of regulator genes and proto-oncogenes that code for transcription factors. The ''Myc'' family consists of three related human genes: ''c-myc'' ( MYC), ''l-myc'' ( MYCL), and ''n-myc'' ( MYCN). ''c-myc'' (also sometimes re ...

– MAX heterodimers, and can be blocked by c-Myc downregulation. Interferon regulatory factors

IRF1 Interferon regulatory factor 1 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''IRF1'' gene. Function Interferon regulatory factor 1 was the first member of the interferon regulatory transcription factor (IRF) family identified. Initially descr ...

and

IRF2 Interferon regulatory factor 2 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''IRF2'' gene. Function IRF2 encodes interferon regulatory factor 2, a member of the interferon regulatory transcription factor (IRF) family. IRF2 competitively inhib ...

also upregulate FasL transcription by directly binding to the FasL promoter. Not much is known about the regulation of Fas and other death receptors. However, overexpression of the protein CFLAR (caspase and FADD-like apoptosis regulator) inhibits Fas-mediated apoptosis.Scaffidi C, Schmitz I, Krammer PH, Peter ME. (1999é, The role of c-FLIP in modulation of CD95-induced apoptosis. J Biol Chem 274:1541–1548

References

Cell biology

Signaling

Regulation of Fas-FasL and AICD

See also

References