Figure 1: Regulation of mitochondrion-dependent dendritic cells death. Cytokines, such as GM-CSF, can inhibit cell death in DCs by suppressing the expression of Bim. Signaling through TLRs can simultaneously increase the expression of pro-apoptotic Bim and anti-apoptotic Bcl-xL [18]. However, DCs generally survive better after stimulation via TLRs, suggesting a dominant effect for the anti-apoptotic molecules [18]. Treg cells can induce cell death in DCs in a Bax- and Bak-dependent manner [84].