Avid Bioservices Inc (CDMO)

[hutschi]

Phosphatidylserine externalization, “necroptotic bodies” release, and phagocytosis during necroptosis

Published: June 26, 2017

http://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.2002711

Author summary

Necroptosis, a recently discovered regulated form of cell death, is widely considered to be inflammatory due to the absence of specific “find me” and “eat me” signals prior to lytic death. Here, we demonstrate that necroptotic cells generate “find me” and “eat me” signals by exposure of phosphatidylserine on their outer plasma membrane. This was further associated with the release of extracellular vesicles (“necroptotic bodies”) that contain phosphatidylserine, pMLKL (a key necroptotic marker), as well as other proteins. These signals drive recognition and phagocytosis of necroptotic cells to modulate the immune response. The exposure of phosphatidylserine and release of “necroptotic bodies” indicate that apoptosis and necroptosis share some common biochemical and cellular features and highlight the need for new biomarkers to distinguish apoptotic and necroptotic cell death.