Lipids found to play key role in immune process for clearing dead cells and microbes

LC3-associated phagocytosis (LAP) is a specialized process for degrading dead cells, microbes or other particles. It plays a role in innate immunity, inflammation regulation and anticancer responses. St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists have, for the first time, implicated lipids in the cellular mechanism that initiates LAP. The findings, published today in Nature Cell Biology, shed light on how this process begins and its potential to influence tumor immunity.