Involvement of the intrinsic and extrinsic cell-death pathways in the induction of apoptosis of mature lymphocytes by the Escherichia coli heat-labile enterotoxin

Escherichia coli heat-labile enterotoxin (LT) exhibits a broad range of immunomodulatory activities, including the induction of lymphocyte-programmed cell death. In previous studies, we have demonstrated that in vivo LT promotes apoptosis of immature T and B cells through the stimulation of endogenous glucocorticoids. In the present study, we show that the extrinsic cell-death pathway as well as the apoptosis-inducing factor do not participate in the LT-induced elimination of thymocytes. In contrast to developing lymphocytes, LT promotes the death of mature lymphocytes by both glucocorticoid- and Fas death receptor/Fas ligand-dependent mechanisms. However, the dependency of these mechanisms in the LT-induced cell-death activity seems to be different among CD4+ and CD8+ T cells. Altogether, our study shows that the same bacterial toxin can induce apoptosis of lymphoid cells through several mechanisms depending on the status of differentiation of these cells.