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Perspectives
Live Free or Die: An Immature T Cell Decision Encoded in Distinct Bcl-2 Sensitive and Insensitive Ca2+ Signals
Michael C. Davis and Clark W. Distelhorst
volume 5 | issue 11
1 june 2006Pages: 1171 - 1174
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In the developing thymus, strong T cell receptor (TCR) activation by self-antigens induces negative selection and weak TCR activation induces positive selection. Both processes are mediated by Ca2+ signals, raising the question of how a single second messenger like Ca2+ can mediate such diverse cell fates. Recent findings indicate that graded TCR activation signals are encoded in distinct patterns of Ca2+ elevation. The anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2 discriminates between these Ca2+ signaling patterns, selectively inhibiting pro-apoptotic Ca2+ signals induced by strong TCR activation without suppressing pro-survival Ca2+ signals induced by weak TCR activation.
We now provide open access to journal articles published online for one year or more. This article may be downloaded at the following link:
Download PDF If the document does not open, please right-click on the link (control-click on a Macintosh) and select the option to save the file to disk.