Constitutive apoptosis in neutrophils does not exhibit characteristics of fas-mediated death

Abstract

Overnight culture of normal peripheral blood neutrophils represents an important model of constitutive apoptosis, in which cell death does not require external stimuli. Since Iwai et al (1994) have reported that neutrophils both express Fas and that Fas ligation by mAb can accelerate apoptosis in culture, it has been suggested that Fas and the closely linked ICE-like proteases may participate in constitutive programmed cell death in the neutrophil. In this study we initially confirmed that the agonistic Fas mAb CH11 increased apoptosis in neutrophil cultures by roughly two-fold over 24 hours. This increase could be completely abrogated with zVAD, an inhibitor of ICE-like proteases, or by co-..