Nitta Takeshi, Takahama Yousuke
Division of Experimental Immunology, Institute for Genome Research, University of Tokushima, 3-18-15 Kuramoto, Tokushima 770-8503, Japan.
Trends Immunol. 2007 Feb;28(2):58-65. doi: 10.1016/j.it.2006.12.002. Epub 2006 Dec 28.
The life-or-death decision of immune cells makes an essential contribution to immune-system development and the regulation of immune responses. A new family of cell-survival regulators expressed in lymphocytes, termed immune-associated nucleotide-binding proteins (IANs) [also known as GTPase of immunity-associated proteins (GIMAPs)], has been described. The IAN/GIMAP family consists of GTP-binding proteins that share a unique primary structure and whose expression is finely regulated by T-cell receptor signals. Recent studies have shown that IAN/GIMAP family proteins crucially regulate the survival of T cells during development, selection and homeostasis, and are possibly linked to the onset of T-lymphopenia, leukemia and autoimmunity. IAN/GIMAP family proteins might also take part in mitochondrial regulation of lymphocyte apoptosis by interacting with Bcl-2 family proteins.
免疫细胞的生死抉择对免疫系统的发育和免疫反应的调节起着至关重要的作用。一个在淋巴细胞中表达的新的细胞存活调节因子家族，称为免疫相关核苷酸结合蛋白（IANs）[也称为免疫相关蛋白的GTP酶（GIMAPs）]，已被描述。IAN/GIMAP家族由具有独特一级结构的GTP结合蛋白组成，其表达受到T细胞受体信号的精细调节。最近的研究表明，IAN/GIMAP家族蛋白在发育、选择和稳态过程中对T细胞的存活起着关键调节作用，并且可能与T淋巴细胞减少、白血病和自身免疫的发生有关。IAN/GIMAP家族蛋白也可能通过与Bcl-2家族蛋白相互作用参与淋巴细胞凋亡的线粒体调节。
