The TAM family of receptors is preferentially expressed by professional and non-professional phagocytes,including macrophages,dendritic cells and natural killer cells in the immune system,osteoclasts in bone,Sertoli c...The TAM family of receptors is preferentially expressed by professional and non-professional phagocytes,including macrophages,dendritic cells and natural killer cells in the immune system,osteoclasts in bone,Sertoli cells in testis,and retinal pigmental epithelium cells in the retina.Mutations in the Mertk single gene or in different combinations of the double or triple gene mutations in the same cell cause complete or partial impairment in phagocytosis of their preys;and as a result,either the normal apoptotic cells cannot be efficiently removed or the tissue neighbor cells die by apoptosis.This scenario of TAM regulation represents a widely adapted model system used by phagocytes in all different tissues.The present review will summarize current known functional roles of TAM receptors and their ligands,Gas 6 and protein S,in the regulation of phagocytosis.展开更多
基金This study was partially supported by NIH EY018830,RR017702,and RR018733Research to Prevent Blindnessand the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.30400229,30670643 and 30870788).
文摘The TAM family of receptors is preferentially expressed by professional and non-professional phagocytes,including macrophages,dendritic cells and natural killer cells in the immune system,osteoclasts in bone,Sertoli cells in testis,and retinal pigmental epithelium cells in the retina.Mutations in the Mertk single gene or in different combinations of the double or triple gene mutations in the same cell cause complete or partial impairment in phagocytosis of their preys;and as a result,either the normal apoptotic cells cannot be efficiently removed or the tissue neighbor cells die by apoptosis.This scenario of TAM regulation represents a widely adapted model system used by phagocytes in all different tissues.The present review will summarize current known functional roles of TAM receptors and their ligands,Gas 6 and protein S,in the regulation of phagocytosis.
