Restimulation-induced cell death: new medical and research perspectives

In the periphery, homeostasis of the immune system depends on the equilibrium of expanding and contracting T lymphocytes during immune response. An important mechanism of lymphocyte contraction is clonal depletion of activated T cells by cytokine withdrawal induced death (CWID) and TCR restimulation induced cell death (RICD). Deficiencies in signaling components for CWID and RICD leads to autoimmunune lymphoproliferative disorders in mouse and human. The most important feature of CWID and RICD is clonal specificity, which lends great appeal as a strategy for targeted tolerance induction and treatment of autoimmune diseases, allergic disorders, and graft rejection by depleting undesired disease-causing T cells while keeping the overall host immunity intact.