Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 25, 2026

Tailoring In Vivo Cytotoxicity Assays to Study Immunodominance in Tumor-specific CD8+ T Cell Responses
Published on: May 6, 2019
Immune effector cells produce lethal DNA damage in cells treated with a thiopurine
1Cancer Research UK, London Research Institute, Clare Hall Laboratories, South Mimms, Herts, United Kingdom.
Abstract:
Azathioprine, a widely used immunosuppressant, is also used in the control of inflammatory disorders. These are characterized by the local accumulation of immune effector cells that produce reactive oxygen species (ROS). The DNA of azathioprine-treated patients contains 6-thioguanine (6-TG), a base analogue that is particularly susceptible to oxidation. Here, we show that 6-TG is vulnerable to ROS produced by chemical oxidants and that cells containing DNA 6-TG are hypersensitive to these oxidants. We also show that 6-TG incorporated into the DNA of macrophages sensitizes them to killing by endogenously produced ROS. ROS generated by macrophages are also a hazard for cocultured nonmacrophage cells containing DNA 6-TG. This bystander vulnerability of cells containing DNA 6-TG to oxidation by ROS generated by immune effector cells has implications for the long-term use of azathioprine in the management of inflammatory disorders.
More Related Videos
11:24Measuring DNA Damage and Repair in Mouse Splenocytes After Chronic In Vivo Exposure to Very Low Doses of Beta- and Gamma-Radiation
Published on: July 3, 2015
09:57Real Time Detection of In Vitro Tumor Cell Apoptosis Induced by CD8+ T Cells to Study Immune Suppressive Functions of Tumor-infiltrating Myeloid Cells
Published on: January 29, 2019
Related Concept Videos
Cytotoxic T Cells-mediated Immune Response
Immunological surveillance is the ability of immune cells to monitor and eliminate infected cells with intracellular pathogens, neoplastically transformed cells, and cells with non-self antigens. Cytotoxic T cells and NK...
T Cell Types and Functions
Th1 cells stimulate dendritic cells to express necessary co-stimulatory molecules on their surfaces for...
Overview of DNA Repair
Chemically...
Mutations
Chromosomal Alterations Are Large-Scale Mutations
While point mutations are changes in a single nucleotide in...
Cells of the Innate Immune Response
Phagocytes
Phagocytes police the peripheral tissues by removing cellular debris and responding to the invasion of foreign substances or pathogens. Many phagocytes attack and remove microorganisms even before lymphocytes detect them. The human body has two general...
The Extrinsic Apoptotic Pathway