# DEATH OF T LYMPHOCYTES AND PROGENITORS

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO DENVER · 1988 · $196,587

## Abstract

The goal of this work is to determine how cells die when their death is
"programmed"; examples of such death include the involution of
hormone-dependent tissues, death of cells that produces the final shape of
developing organs, and possibly senescence.  Within the immune system the
death of thymus cells; of T cells when their growth factor IL-2 is removed;
of irradiated lymphocytes; and of the targets of killer cells may all be
programmed in that they all exhibit the same early event:  the
fragmentation of DNA into nucleosome-sized subunits.  This fragmentation is
the result of the action of an endogenous endonuclease.  It will be
isolated by biochemical fractionation techniques and monoclonal antibodies
to it will be prepared.  These will be used to screen a variety of cell
types, both normal and those in which the death program has been induced.
Besides the endonuclease, other proteins are involved in death; these have
not yet been identified.  DNA complementary to messenger RNA characteristic
of dying cells will be isolated by subtractive hybridization, and used to
probe a cDNA library made from dying cells.  The selected clones will be
used to identify those mRNAs specifically expressed in a wide range of
dying cells, the "death genes".  The appropriate cDNAs will then be
sequenced, peptides corresponding to those sequences prepared, and
monoclonal antibodies raised against them.  These antibodies will be used
to isolate the "death proteins", whose function will then be determined.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 3124994
- **Project number:** 5R01AI011661-15
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO DENVER
- **SAM.gov UEI:** MW8JHK6ZYEX8
- **Principal Investigator:** J JOHN COHEN
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 1988
- **Award amount:** $196,587
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1977-05-01 → 1991-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/3124994

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 3124994, DEATH OF T LYMPHOCYTES AND PROGENITORS (5R01AI011661-15). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-10-24 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/3124994. Licensed CC0.

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