Different tissue phagocytes sample apoptotic cells to direct distinct homeostasis programs.

ABSTRACT: Recognition and removal of apoptotic cells by professional phagocytes, including dendritic cells and macrophages, preserves immune self-tolerance and prevents chronic inflammation and autoimmune pathologies. The diverse array of phagocytes that reside within different tissues, combined with the necessarily prompt nature of apoptotic cell clearance, makes it difficult to study this process in situ. The full spectrum of functions executed by tissue-resident phagocytes in response to homeostatic apoptosis, therefore, remains unclear. Here we show that mouse apoptotic intestinal epithelial cells (IECs), which undergo continuous renewal to maintain optimal barrier and absorptive functions, are not merely extruded to maintain homeostatic cell numbers, but are also sampled by a single subset of d

SUBMITTER: Cummings RJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5807003 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature