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Updated: Jul 17, 2026

Experimental Analysis of Apoptotic Thymocyte Engulfment by Macrophages
Published on: May 24, 2019
Autophagy induction and autophagic cell death in effector T cells
Binfeng Lu1, Elizabeth Capan, Changyou Li
1Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15261, USA. Binfeng@pitt.edu
Abstract:
The population size of the T cells is tightly regulated. The T cell number drastically increases in response to their specific antigens. Upon antigen clearance, the T cell number decreases over time. Apoptosis, also called type I programmed cell death, plays an important role in eliminating T cells. The role of autophagic cell death, also called type II programmed cell death, is unclear in T cells. Our recent work demonstrated that autophagy is induced in both Th1 and Th2 cells. Both TCR signaling and IL-2 increase autophagy in T cells, and JNK MAP kinases are required for the induction of autophagy in T cells, whereas caspases and mTOR inhibit autophagy in T cells. Autophagy is required for mediating growth factor withdrawal-dependent cell death in T cells. Here, we hypothesize that autophagic cell death plays an important role in T cell homeostasis.
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