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Glucocorticoid-Induced Death of Immune Cells: Mechanisms of Action

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Apoptosis in Immunology

Part of the book series: Current Topics in Microbiology and Immunology ((CT MICROBIOLOGY,volume 200))

Abstract

Cell death occurs in many physiological situations, including embryogenesis, differentiation, and metamorphosis. It is an important mechanism in maintaining homeostasis by providing a counterbalance to mitosis. There are at least two types of cell death that are now recognized: necrosis and apoptosis. In necrosis, the cell undergoes irreversible swelling and lysis in response to a variety of signals which are primarily nonphysiological; the plasma membrane disrupts and then spills the intracellular contents into the environment, resulting in activation of the immune response. Apoptosis, by contrast, is inherently “programmed” as part of the cellular processes, allowing the cell to die in response to a variety of signals without a deleterious effect on surrounding cells, i.e., it does not elicit an immune response. Details of the morphology of apoptosis have been extensively reported (Kerr et al. 1972; Arends and Wyllie 1991; Schwartzman and Cidlowski 1993a; Compton and Cidlowski 1992), but briefly, apoptosis involves separation of the cell from its neighbors, condensing of the cytoplasm, condensing of the chromatin, which moves to the margins of the nuclear envelope, convolution of the plasma membrane, and, finally, blebbing off of apoptotic bodies, which contain various organelles and chromatin fragments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA

    J. W. Montague & J. A. Cidlowski

  2. Department of Physiology, CB # 7545, and Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Institute, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA

    J. A. Cidlowski

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  1. J. W. Montague
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  2. J. A. Cidlowski
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  1. Génétique Moléculaire et Biologie du Développment, CNRS-UPR 420, 19, rue Guy Môquet, BP8, 94801, Villejuif Cedex, France

    Guido Kroemer

  2. Centro Nacional de Biotecnologia CSIC Campus de Cantoblanco, Universidad Autonoma, 28049, Madrid, Spain

    Carlos Martinez-A.

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© 1995 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Montague, J.W., Cidlowski, J.A. (1995). Glucocorticoid-Induced Death of Immune Cells: Mechanisms of Action. In: Kroemer, G., Martinez-A., C. (eds) Apoptosis in Immunology. Current Topics in Microbiology and Immunology, vol 200. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-79437-7_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-79437-7_4

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-79439-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-79437-7

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