Unit for Cell Clearance in Health and Disease, VIB Center for Inflammation Research, Ghent, Belgium.
Department of Biomedical Molecular Biology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
Nat Rev Drug Discov. 2022 Aug;21(8):601-620. doi: 10.1038/s41573-022-00470-y. Epub 2022 Jun 1.
The daily removal of billions of apoptotic cells in the human body via the process of efferocytosis is essential for homeostasis. To allow for this continuous efferocytosis, rapid phenotypic changes occur in the phagocytes enabling them to engulf and digest the apoptotic cargo. In addition, efferocytosis is actively anti-inflammatory and promotes resolution. Owing to its ubiquitous nature and the sheer volume of cell turnover, efferocytosis is a point of vulnerability. Aberrations in efferocytosis are associated with numerous inflammatory pathologies, including atherosclerosis, cancer and infections. The recent exciting discoveries defining the molecular machinery involved in efferocytosis have opened many avenues for therapeutic intervention, with several agents now in clinical trials.
人体每天通过噬作用清除数十亿个凋亡细胞，这对维持内稳态至关重要。为了实现这种持续的噬作用，吞噬细胞会发生快速的表型变化，使它们能够吞噬和消化凋亡的细胞内容物。此外，噬作用具有明显的抗炎作用，并促进炎症消退。由于其普遍存在性和细胞更替的巨大数量，噬作用是一个脆弱点。噬作用的异常与许多炎症性病理有关，包括动脉粥样硬化、癌症和感染。最近令人兴奋的发现定义了参与噬作用的分子机制，为治疗干预开辟了许多途径，目前有几种药物正在临床试验中。
