Elsevier

Microbes and Infection

Volume 11, Issue 4, April 2009, Pages 452-459
Microbes and Infection

Review
The biology of cytotoxic cell granule exocytosis pathway: granzymes have evolved to induce cell death and inflammation

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Abstract

The granule exocytosis pathway of cytotoxic lymphocytes (Tc and NK cells) is critical for control of tumor development and viral infections. Granule-associated perforin and granzymes are key components in Tc cell-mediated function(s). On the basis of studies that showed granzymes A, B, C, K and M, to induce apoptosis in vitro, all granzymes were thought to also induce cell death in vivo. This review summarizes our present understanding of the biological processes elicited by purified granzyme A and granzyme as well as the processes induced by the more physiologically relevant cytotoxic cells secreting these proteases. The combined evidence supports the concept that the granule secretion pathway is not mono-specific but rather poly-functional including induction of pro-inflammatory cytokines, besides their widely appreciated apoptotic properties.

Keywords

Granule exocytosis
Perforin
Granzymes
Cell death
Inflammation

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