Immunogenic and tolerogenic cell death

DR Green, T Ferguson, L Zitvogel… - Nature Reviews …, 2009 - nature.com
Nature Reviews Immunology, 2009nature.com
The immune system is routinely exposed to dead cells during normal cell turnover, injury
and infection. Mechanisms must exist to discriminate between different forms of cell death to
correctly eliminate pathogens and promote healing while avoiding responses to self, which
can result in autoimmunity. However, an effective immune response against host tissue is
often needed to eliminate tumours following treatment with chemotherapeutic agents that
trigger tumour cell death. Consequently, a central problem in immunology is to understand …
Abstract
The immune system is routinely exposed to dead cells during normal cell turnover, injury and infection. Mechanisms must exist to discriminate between different forms of cell death to correctly eliminate pathogens and promote healing while avoiding responses to self, which can result in autoimmunity. However, an effective immune response against host tissue is often needed to eliminate tumours following treatment with chemotherapeutic agents that trigger tumour cell death. Consequently, a central problem in immunology is to understand how the immune system determines whether cell death is immunogenic, tolerogenic or 'silent'.
nature.com