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Role of the ubiquitin-like modifier FAT10 in protein degradation and ...

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Chapter 4<br />

As both wild-type as well as <strong>FAT10</strong>-deficient mice display similar numbers <strong>of</strong><br />

LCMV-specific T cells on day seven post <strong>in</strong>fection, however, it seems more <strong>like</strong>ly<br />

that <strong>the</strong> observed <strong>in</strong>crease <strong>in</strong> specific T cell numbers at later time po<strong>in</strong>ts is a<br />

result <strong>of</strong> defects <strong>in</strong> T cell homeostasis. In this case, it would be imporant to clarify<br />

whe<strong>the</strong>r this effect was due to a lack <strong>of</strong> T cell apoptosis or ra<strong>the</strong>r an <strong>in</strong>crease <strong>in</strong><br />

proliferation, which could for example be determ<strong>in</strong>ed though BrdU <strong>in</strong>corporation<br />

or CFSE-label<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> T cells. Aga<strong>in</strong>, it seems more <strong>like</strong>ly that <strong>the</strong> <strong>in</strong>creased cell<br />

numbers are a result <strong>of</strong> impaired T cell death, s<strong>in</strong>ce <strong>FAT10</strong> could be shown to<br />

<strong>in</strong>duce apoptosis <strong>in</strong> a number <strong>of</strong> different sett<strong>in</strong>gs (Raasi et al., 2001; Ross et al.,<br />

2006).<br />

The contraction phase <strong>of</strong> an immune response is characterized by massive cell<br />

death <strong>of</strong> antigen-specific T cells, which <strong>in</strong> most cases co<strong>in</strong>cides with <strong>the</strong> clear-<br />

ance <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>fection (Sprent <strong>and</strong> Tough, 2001; Badov<strong>in</strong>ac <strong>and</strong> Harty, 2002). As DCs<br />

are <strong>in</strong>herently short-lived cells (Kamath et al., 2000), removal <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> pathogen<br />

from <strong>the</strong> host results <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> immediate loss <strong>of</strong> T cell activation as pathogen-<br />

derived epitopes are no longer presented to circulat<strong>in</strong>g T cells <strong>in</strong> comb<strong>in</strong>ation<br />

with co-stimulatory molecules. Interest<strong>in</strong>gly, apoptosis <strong>of</strong> DCs after maturation is<br />

mostly regulated through <strong>the</strong> <strong>in</strong>tr<strong>in</strong>sic pathway via <strong>the</strong> downregulation <strong>of</strong> BCL-2<br />

(Nopora <strong>and</strong> Brocker, 2002) <strong>and</strong> BCL-XL (Hon et al., 2004). Apoptosis <strong>of</strong> acti-<br />

vated T cells, <strong>in</strong> turn, is regulated through a comb<strong>in</strong>ation <strong>of</strong> both extr<strong>in</strong>sic as<br />

well as <strong>in</strong>tr<strong>in</strong>sic pathways. T cell receptor restimulation <strong>of</strong> already activated <strong>and</strong><br />

exp<strong>and</strong>ed T cells <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> absence <strong>of</strong> appropriate co-stimulation can lead to <strong>the</strong><br />

<strong>in</strong>duction <strong>of</strong> activation-<strong>in</strong>duced cell death (AICD) (Green et al., 2003). ACID is<br />

mediated mostly through <strong>the</strong> engagement <strong>of</strong> death receptors such as Fas (Dhe<strong>in</strong><br />

et al., 1995) or TNFR1 (Sytwu et al., 1996) <strong>and</strong> can be modulated both through<br />

<strong>the</strong> upregulation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>se receptors (Li-Weber <strong>and</strong> Krammer, 2003) as well <strong>the</strong><br />

<strong>in</strong>hibitory prote<strong>in</strong> cFLIP (Refaeli et al., 1998; Schmitz et al., 2004). Activated<br />

cell-autonomous death (ACAD), on <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r h<strong>and</strong>, is mostly mediated via <strong>the</strong> <strong>in</strong>-<br />

tr<strong>in</strong>sic pathway through <strong>the</strong> upregulation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> pro-apoptotic prote<strong>in</strong>s BIM <strong>and</strong><br />

PUMA (Hildeman et al., 2002; Erlacher et al., 2006) due to <strong>the</strong> absence <strong>of</strong> ap-<br />

propriate survival signals, such as cytok<strong>in</strong>e deprivation. In addition, ACAD can<br />

be fur<strong>the</strong>r promoted by <strong>the</strong> down-regulation <strong>of</strong> BCL-XL <strong>and</strong> BCL-2 dur<strong>in</strong>g T cell<br />

expansion (S<strong>and</strong>alova et al., 2004; Schmitz et al., 2003).<br />

Whe<strong>the</strong>r <strong>FAT10</strong> primarily plays a role <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> apoptosis <strong>of</strong> T cells <strong>the</strong>mselves, or<br />

ra<strong>the</strong>r <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> death <strong>of</strong> DCs <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong>refore <strong>the</strong> downregulation <strong>of</strong> T cell activation,<br />

could be determ<strong>in</strong>ed by isolat<strong>in</strong>g ei<strong>the</strong>r T cells or DCs <strong>and</strong> subject<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong>m to<br />

different apoptotic stimuli. Prelim<strong>in</strong>ary results from <strong>the</strong> study <strong>of</strong> bone marrow-<br />

108

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