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IL-2 and related cytokines can promote T cell survival by activating AKT

Erin Kelly1, Angela Won, Yosef Refaeli

  • 1Center for Cancer Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.

Journal of Immunology (Baltimore, Md. : 1950)
|January 5, 2002
PubMed

The regulated elimination of T cells serves to maintain normal immune function and prevents autoimmune responses. IL-2 family cytokines play an important role in controlling the survival of immature and mature T cells. These molecules activate the protein kinase, AKT/PKB. AKT has been shown to transduce an antiapoptotic signal in numerous cell types. In this study, we show that an active form of AKT can protect T cells from apoptosis following growth factor withdrawal and that IL-2 family cytokines can promote T cell survival by activating this kinase. We also provide evidence that AKT does not block death receptor-mediated killing of lymphocytes. These data suggest that AKT may serve as a common signaling element by which members of the IL-2 family of cytokines promote T cell survival.

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