Control of peripheral T cell survival: a delicate division of labor between cytokines and costimulatory molecules

Throughout their life span, T lymphocytes are confronted with diverse and often extreme circumstances: they either are in a resting state or proliferate vigorously and find themselves in lymphoid organs, blood stream, or peripheral tissues. Under all these conditions, their survival depends on extracellular factors that counteract apoptotic cell death and sustain metabolism. In the different phases of T cell life and throughout the antigen-dependent T cell response, different cytokine receptors and costimulatory receptors provide the input to direct these processes, via intracellular signaling pathways that have been elucidated in significant detail.