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. 1994 Dec 1;180(6):2413–2418. doi: 10.1084/jem.180.6.2413

Functional Myc-Max heterodimer is required for activation-induced apoptosis in T cell hybridomas

PMCID: PMC2191802  PMID: 7964516

Abstract

T cell hybridomas respond to activation signals by undergoing apoptotic cell death, and this is likely to represent comparable events related to tolerance induction in immature and mature T cells in vivo. Previous studies using antisense oligonucleotides implicated the c-Myc protein in the phenomenon of activation-induced apoptosis. This role for c-Myc in apoptosis is now confirmed in studies using a dominant negative form of its heterodimeric binding partner, Max, which we show here inhibits activation-induced apoptosis. Further, coexpression of a reciprocally mutant Myc protein capable of forming functional heterodimers with the mutant Max can compensate for the dominant negative activity and restore activation-induced apoptosis. These results imply that Myc promotes activation-induced apoptosis by obligatory heterodimerization with Max, and therefore, by regulating gene transcription.

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Selected References

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