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Perforin: Structure, Function, and Regulation

  • Chapter
Membrane Defenses Against Attack by Complement and Perforins

Part of the book series: Current Topics in Microbiology and Immunology ((CT MICROBIOLOGY,volume 178))

Abstract

The mechanism of lymphocyte-mediated cytolysis is controversial (see recent reviews Bleackley et al. 1988; Brunet et al. 1988; Clark et al. 1988; Mueller et al. 1988; Müller-Eberhard 1988; Munger et al. 1988; Nagler-Anderson et al. 1988; Sitkovsky 1988; Young et al. 1988; Podack et al. 1988; Jenne and Tschopp 1988a, b; Bleackley 1988; Hershberger et al. 1988; Stevens et al. 1988; Tschopp and Nabholz 1990; Podack et al. 1991). The main contentions concern the question whether secretory functions of the killer cell, as proposed by the vectorial granule secretion model of cytotoxicity (Podack 1985; Henkart 1985), are required for target cell lysis and whether secretory models of cytotoxicity account for most of the cytotoxic activity. Other open questions are related to the role of DNA degradation (apoptosis, programmed cell death) in target cell lysis (Russel et al. 1982; Russel 1983; Duke et al. 1983; Lovell and Martz 1987) and how this process is mediated molecularly. No molecular tools are available at the present time to assess the importance, or even existence, of the putative secretion-independent pathway of lymphocyte-mediated cytolysis. Similarly, since the mechanism of DNA degradation is not understood, it is difficult to quantitate its role in cytolysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Microbiology and Immunology, School of Medicine, University of Miami, 016090 (R138), Miami, FL, 33103, USA

    E. R. Podack

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  1. E. R. Podack
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  1. Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, Utah, 84148, USA

    Charles J. Parker A. B., M.D. (Associate Professor of Medicine, Chief, Hematology Subsection) (Associate Professor of Medicine, Chief, Hematology Subsection)

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Podack, E.R. (1992). Perforin: Structure, Function, and Regulation. In: Parker, C.J. (eds) Membrane Defenses Against Attack by Complement and Perforins. Current Topics in Microbiology and Immunology, vol 178. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-77014-2_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-77014-2_11

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