Figure 1.

Therapeutics approaches to counteract apoptosis and recovery lymphocyte functions. Based on lymphocyte alterations described in this review, two main therapeutic strategies must be taken into account in patients with sepsis: to block lymphocyte apoptosis for recovery of lymphocyte count or to restore effector lymphocyte functions. Abbreviations: IL: interleukin; IFN: interferon; Bcl-2: B-cell lymphoma 2 gen; PD-1: programmed cell death protein 1; BTLA: B- and T-lymphocyte attenuator; TIM-3: T-cell immunoglobulin and mucin protein 3; CTLA-4: cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4; LAG-3: lymphocyte activation gene 3.