When killer T cells of the immune system encounter virus-infected or cancer cells, they unload a lethal mix of toxic proteins that trigger the target cells to self-destruct. A new study shows T cells can initiate cellular suicide, also known as programmed cell death or apoptosis, by a previously unrecognized pathway that starts with the destruction of a key enzyme in mitochondria, the power plant of the cell.

The study, from the lab of Judy Lieberman, a senior investigator at the Immune Disease Institute and Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, reveals that T cells use both the novel pathway and the classical apoptotic pathway to interfere with mitochondrial function and induce cell death. … Continue Reading »