Role of Circulating Lymphocytes in Patients with Sepsis

Figure 1

Therapeutics approaches to counteract apoptosis and recovery lymphocyte functions. Based on lymphocyte alterations described in this review, two main therapeutic strategies must be taken into account in patients with sepsis: to block lymphocyte apoptosis for recovery of lymphocyte count or to restore effector lymphocyte functions. Abbreviations: IL: interleukin; IFN: interferon; Bcl-2: B-cell lymphoma 2 gen; PD-1: programmed cell death protein 1; BTLA: B- and T-lymphocyte attenuator; TIM-3: T-cell immunoglobulin and mucin protein 3; CTLA-4: cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4; LAG-3: lymphocyte activation gene 3.