Early events in spontaneous neutrophil apoptosis

Dagmar Scheel-Toellner, Ke-Qing Wang, PR Webb, SH Wong, RM Craddock, Michael Salmon, Janet Lord, LK Assi

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle

52 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Neutrophils are very abundant, short-lived leucocytes and their death by apoptosis is central to homoeostasis and the resolution of inflammation, yet the trigger for apoptosis is still a topic of debate. Depolarization of the mitochondrial membrane has been supposed to initiate neutrophil spontaneous apoptosis, as neutrophils gradually lose the anti-apoptotic protein Mcl-1 and Bax translocates and inserts into the mitochondrial membrane. However, other reports show that caspase 8 is required for neutrophil apoptosis, suggesting the involvement of DR (death receptor) signalling. As DR ligation is not required for neutrophil apoptosis, this raises the intriguing possibility that activation of caspase 8 during neutrophil apoptosis occurs via a novel mechanism. in the present paper, we discuss the current evidence for mechanisms occurring in neutrophil apoptosis, which could trigger DR signalling in the absence of DR ligation.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)461-4
Number of pages4
JournalBiochemical Society Transactions
Volume32
Issue numberPt 3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2004

Keywords

  • inflammation
  • apoptosis
  • neutrophil
  • caspase 8
  • Bcl-2
  • lipid raft
  • death receptor

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