Secretory lysosomes - a special mechanism of regulated secretion in haemopoietic cells

G M Griffiths1

  • 1MRC Laboratory for Molecular Cell Biology, University College London, Gower St, London, UK WC1E 6BT. gillian.griffiths@ucl.ac.uk

Trends in Cell Biology
|September 1, 1996
PubMed

The secretory granules o f cells derived from the haemopoietic lineage are 'secretory lysosomes' containing both lysosomal hydrolases and secretory proteins. Studies on cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) have elucidated several of the mechanisms that regulate protein sorting to, and secretion from, this unusual secretory organelle. In particular, recent findings from a CTL mutant have led to the hypothesis that CTLs, and other cells of the haemopoietic lineage, use specialized sorting and secretory mechanisms in which the lysosome functions as a regulated secretory granule.

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