Another cell death induction system: TNF-alpha acts as a ligand for fas invaginal cells

The death receptor Fas transduces apoptotic death signaling upon stimulatio n with the Pas ligand, We previously reported that Fas contributes to vagin al cell death observed during the estrus cycle and after estrogen deprivati on, using the functional Fas-lacking lpr and lpr(cg) mutant mouse. In the p resent study, we investigated whether the Fas ligand also plays a dominant role in vaginal cell death using the functional Fas ligand-lacking gld muta nt mouse. Our results demonstrated that vaginal cells of gld mice do not sh ow any abnormalities, suggesting the possible presence of another ligand fo r Fas. Through our investigation, we demonstrated TNF-alpha as a ligand for vaginal Fas. Here, we propose that TNF-alpha acts for the ligand for Fas i n vaginal cells, suggesting a new cell death induction system.