Drugging the efferocytosis process: concepts and opportunities.
Parul MehrotraKodi S RavichandranPublished in: Nature reviews. Drug discovery (2022)
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.
Keyphrases
- anti inflammatory
- clinical trial
- cell death
- randomized controlled trial
- induced apoptosis
- endothelial cells
- cardiovascular disease
- oxidative stress
- single cell
- climate change
- gene expression
- physical activity
- dna methylation
- single molecule
- copy number
- papillary thyroid
- squamous cell carcinoma
- stem cells
- cell cycle arrest
- signaling pathway
- study protocol
- bone marrow
- endoplasmic reticulum stress
- cell proliferation
- childhood cancer
- double blind
- loop mediated isothermal amplification