The human homologue of Caenorhabditis elegans CED-6 specifically promotes phagocytosis of apoptotic cells
- Author
- Elke Smits, Wim Van Criekinge (UGent) , Geert Plaetinck and Thierry Bogaert
- Organization
- Abstract
- A key feature of the process of programmed cell death (apoptosis) is the efficiency with which the dying cells are recognized and engulfed by phagocytes [1], Apoptotic cells are rapidly cleared either by neighbouring cells acting as semi-professional phagocytes or by experts of the macrophage line, so that an inflammatory response is avoided [2]. The Caenorhabditis elegans gene ced-6 is required for efficient engulfment of apoptotic cells [3] and is one of a group of genes that define two partially redundant parallel pathways for the engulfment process [4,5]. These pathways may be conserved across evolution, as two other engulfment genes have human homologues, A CED-5 homologue is part of a human CrkII-DOCK180-Rac signaling pathway proposed to mediate cytoskeletal reorganization [6-8] and a CED-7 homologue is similar to the ABC transporters [9,10]. Here, we report the cloning and characterization of human CED-6, a human homologue of C. elegans CED-6. The 34 kDa hCED-6 protein is expressed in most tissues, some human cancer cells, and in primary human macrophages. We developed an assay that quantitates the phagocytic activity of mammalian macrophages: the number of apoptotic cells that have been internalized is measured by the uptake of lacZ-positive apoptotic cells by adherent transgenic macrophages. The results of this assay demonstrate that overexpression of hCED-6 promotes phagocytosis only of apoptotic cells and suggest that hCED-6 is the mammalian orthologue of C. elegans CED-6 and is a part of a highly conserved pathway that specifically mediates the phagocytosis of apoptotic cells.
- Keywords
- PROTEIN, C-ELEGANS, ENGULFMENT, MACROPHAGES, RECOGNITION, NEUTROPHILS, DOCK180, BINDING, DEATH, CORPSES
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Citation
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication: http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-791265
- MLA
- Smits, Elke, et al. “The Human Homologue of Caenorhabditis Elegans CED-6 Specifically Promotes Phagocytosis of Apoptotic Cells.” CURRENT BIOLOGY, vol. 9, no. 22, 1999, pp. 1351–54, doi:10.1016/S0960-9822(00)80062-7.
- APA
- Smits, E., Van Criekinge, W., Plaetinck, G., & Bogaert, T. (1999). The human homologue of Caenorhabditis elegans CED-6 specifically promotes phagocytosis of apoptotic cells. CURRENT BIOLOGY, 9(22), 1351–1354. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0960-9822(00)80062-7
- Chicago author-date
- Smits, Elke, Wim Van Criekinge, Geert Plaetinck, and Thierry Bogaert. 1999. “The Human Homologue of Caenorhabditis Elegans CED-6 Specifically Promotes Phagocytosis of Apoptotic Cells.” CURRENT BIOLOGY 9 (22): 1351–54. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0960-9822(00)80062-7.
- Chicago author-date (all authors)
- Smits, Elke, Wim Van Criekinge, Geert Plaetinck, and Thierry Bogaert. 1999. “The Human Homologue of Caenorhabditis Elegans CED-6 Specifically Promotes Phagocytosis of Apoptotic Cells.” CURRENT BIOLOGY 9 (22): 1351–1354. doi:10.1016/S0960-9822(00)80062-7.
- Vancouver
- 1.Smits E, Van Criekinge W, Plaetinck G, Bogaert T. The human homologue of Caenorhabditis elegans CED-6 specifically promotes phagocytosis of apoptotic cells. CURRENT BIOLOGY. 1999;9(22):1351–4.
- IEEE
- [1]E. Smits, W. Van Criekinge, G. Plaetinck, and T. Bogaert, “The human homologue of Caenorhabditis elegans CED-6 specifically promotes phagocytosis of apoptotic cells,” CURRENT BIOLOGY, vol. 9, no. 22, pp. 1351–1354, 1999.
@article{791265,
abstract = {{A key feature of the process of programmed cell death (apoptosis) is the efficiency with which the dying cells are recognized and engulfed by phagocytes [1], Apoptotic cells are rapidly cleared either by neighbouring cells acting as semi-professional phagocytes or by experts of the macrophage line, so that an inflammatory response is avoided [2]. The Caenorhabditis elegans gene ced-6 is required for efficient engulfment of apoptotic cells [3] and is one of a group of genes that define two partially redundant parallel pathways for the engulfment process [4,5]. These pathways may be conserved across evolution, as two other engulfment genes have human homologues, A CED-5 homologue is part of a human CrkII-DOCK180-Rac signaling pathway proposed to mediate cytoskeletal reorganization [6-8] and a CED-7 homologue is similar to the ABC transporters [9,10]. Here, we report the cloning and characterization of human CED-6, a human homologue of C. elegans CED-6. The 34 kDa hCED-6 protein is expressed in most tissues, some human cancer cells, and in primary human macrophages. We developed an assay that quantitates the phagocytic activity of mammalian macrophages: the number of apoptotic cells that have been internalized is measured by the uptake of lacZ-positive apoptotic cells by adherent transgenic macrophages. The results of this assay demonstrate that overexpression of hCED-6 promotes phagocytosis only of apoptotic cells and suggest that hCED-6 is the mammalian orthologue of C. elegans CED-6 and is a part of a highly conserved pathway that specifically mediates the phagocytosis of apoptotic cells.}},
author = {{Smits, Elke and Van Criekinge, Wim and Plaetinck, Geert and Bogaert, Thierry}},
issn = {{0960-9822}},
journal = {{CURRENT BIOLOGY}},
keywords = {{PROTEIN,C-ELEGANS,ENGULFMENT,MACROPHAGES,RECOGNITION,NEUTROPHILS,DOCK180,BINDING,DEATH,CORPSES}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{22}},
pages = {{1351--1354}},
title = {{The human homologue of Caenorhabditis elegans CED-6 specifically promotes phagocytosis of apoptotic cells}},
url = {{http://doi.org/10.1016/S0960-9822(00)80062-7}},
volume = {{9}},
year = {{1999}},
}
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