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Programmed cell death and the immune system

Nature Reviews Immunology volume 17, pages 333–340 (2017)Cite this article

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Abstract

More than 50 years ago, cells were observed to die during insect development via a process that was named 'programmed cell death'. Later, a similar cell death process was found to occur in humans, and the process was renamed 'apoptosis'. In the 1990s, a number of apoptosis-regulating molecules were identified, and apoptosis was found to have essential roles in the immune system. In this Timeline article, we highlight the key events that have demonstrated the importance of programmed cell death processes, including apoptosis and programmed necrosis, in the immune system.

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Figure 1: Timeline of the history of cell death research in immunology.
Figure 2: Cell death in immunological processes.
Figure 3: The two major apoptotic pathways.
Figure 4: Apoptosis and programmed necrosis.

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Acknowledgements

The cell death projects in the laboratory of S.N. have been supported by Grants-in-Aid from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science and by Core Research for Evolutional Science and Technology (CREST) grants from Japan Science and Technology Agency. The work in the laboratory of M.T. has been supported by Grants-in-Aid from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. The authors thank all members of their laboratories for their contributions to the projects and thank M. Fujii for secretarial assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shigekazu Nagata is at the Laboratory of Biochemistry and Immunology, World Premier International Immunology Frontier Research Center, Osaka University, Osaka 565–0871, Japan.,

    Shigekazu Nagata

  2. Masato Tanaka is at the Laboratory of Immune Regulation, School of Life Science, Tokyo University of Pharmacy and Life Sciences, 1432–1 Horinouchi, Hachioji, Tokyo 192–0392, Japan.,

    Masato Tanaka

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  1. Shigekazu Nagata
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Correspondence to Shigekazu Nagata.

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Nagata, S., Tanaka, M. Programmed cell death and the immune system. Nat Rev Immunol 17, 333–340 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nri.2016.153

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