Eat the dead

Apoptosis eliminates the asymmetry of plasma membrane phospholipids and exposes phosphatidylserine on the outside of cells. Fadok et al. report in the May 4 Nature that they have found a phagocyte protein that recognizes the phosphatidylserine (Nature 2000, 405:85-90). Addition of the receptor to lymphocytes allows the cells to engulf apoptotic cells. Engagement of the receptor on macrophages induces the production of anti-inflammatory TGF-b consistent with the absence of inflammation during apoptosis.