| Apoptosis, or programmed cell death, is emerging as an important biological mechanism that maintains homeostasis in normal lympho-hematopoietic tissue. The bcl-x gene is a special member in the bcl-2 family. The bcl-x gene encodes two proteins with opposing effects on apoptosis via an alternative splicing mechanism. The long form of these, bcl-x_L, is a blocker of apoptosis like bcl-2, whereas the shorter, bcl-x_S, accelerates cell death rates. Immunohistochemistry , immunoblot and double-labeling immunofluorescence were used to investigate the expression and location of Bcl-x protein in reactive and malignant lympo-hematopoietic tissues. Our study came to the following results, (a) Bcl-x protein was most abundant within germinal center in reactive hyperplastic follicle and virtually absent in mantle zone. This phenomenon suggests that Bcl-x protein might be involved in the regulation of apoptosis in germinal center cells, (b) Positive for Bcl-x and Bax proteins were found in, respectively, 85.4% and 70.4% of Hogdkin's disease. It was first found that Bcl-2 and Bcl-x or Bcl-2 and Bax could coexist in the same Reed-Sternberg (R-S) cell. The result could manifest that all three Bcl-2 family's members — Bcl-2 , Bcl-x and Bax might regulate the apoptosis of R-S cell. The presence and the concentration of each member might determine the...
|
PDF Full Text Request