Abstracts (complete list) - Wissenschaft Online

Julian Pardo, Christin Urban, Arno Müllbacher, Reinhard Wallich, Christoph Borner,
Markus M Simon
Pleiotropism of granzyme B-induced cell death; A means of
the host to counter pathogens evasion strategies of CTLmediated
recovery
Granzyme B (gzmB) of cytotoxic lymphocytes is essential for recovery from intracellular
pathogens, but the molecular basis is still unresolved. Here, we analyzed gzmBmediated
death pathways under more physiological conditions using ex vivo virusimmune
CTL that express perf and gzmB, but not gzmA (gzmB+CTL). We show that
gzmB+CTL kill targets independent of caspases and mitochondrial signaling. In addition
the data reveal that gzmB+CTL independently induce pro-apoptotic processes either via
caspases 3/-7, leading to plasma membrane perturbance and ROS production, or via
Bid/Bak/Bax, resulting in cytochrome c release and that both pathways elicit ??m
suppression. Our data provide evidence for a pleiotropic pro-apoptotic function of gzmB
suitable to counteract evasion strategies of pathogens and to control tumors.