Apoptosis and the Immune System

The phenomenon of apoptosis is of particular importance in the development, function and maintenance of the immune system, where it is used as a means of establishing immune tolerance and may be induced as a means of killing virally infected and cancerous cells. Reviews the current literature and theories concerning apoptosis and specifically discusses its role in the deletion of self-reactive lymphocytes, the prevention of autoimmunity, the death of T cells infected by the HIV virus, termination of the immune response, neoplasia and the homeostatic regulation of the hematopoietic system.