Death by a Thousand Cuts: Granzyme Pathways of Programmed Cell Death

2008/02/27 by Dipanjan Chowdhury, Judy Lieberman · 5 citations
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Immunology and Microbiology · #Adenosine and Purinergic Signaling #Calcium signaling and nucleotide metabolism #Immune Cell Function and Interaction

paper · doi:10.1146/annurev.immunol.26.021607.090404

openalex publication_date 2008/02/27 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/15

Abstract

The granzymes are cell death-inducing enzymes, stored in the cytotoxic granules of cytotoxic T lymphocytes and natural killer cells, that are released during granule exocytosis when a specific virus-infected or transformed target cell is marked for elimination. Recent work suggests that this homologous family of serine esterases can activate at least three distinct pathways of cell death. This redundancy likely evolved to provide protection against pathogens and tumors with diverse strategies for evading cell death. This review discusses what is known about granzyme-mediated pathways of cell death as well as recent studies that implicate granzymes in immune regulation and extracellular proteolytic functions in inflammation.

Citations

• Differential expression of granzymes A and B in human cytotoxic lymphocyte subsets and T regulatory cells

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• Differential expression of granzymes A and B in human cytotoxic lymphocyte subsets and T regulatory cells