**8. Future perspectives**

Efferocytosis is regulated by a number of factors, including complex membrane lipids and multiple effector proteins. These factors are responsible for functions including dead cell recognition, phagocytosis activation, and, finally, cell corpse degradation. The multi-step process from cell death to cell clearance, as previously mentioned, is delicate, demonstrating the importance of efferocytosis in development, homeostasis, and pathophysiology. The ability of phagocytes to clear cellular debris is required for the homeostatic function of nearly every major physiological system. Efferocytosis dysfunction induces serious disease, while activation of efferocytosis encourages immune silence by processing anti-inflammatory signals, clearing apoptotic cells, and involving the LAP machinery. Since current research indicates that efferocytosis and LAP involvement are beneficial in many environments, inducing an inflammatory response in the treatment of various malignancies by inducing LAP and efferocytosis may be beneficial. The production of therapeutics targeting components of these pathways can increase the efficacy of current cancer therapies such as checkpoint blockade by raising the immunogenicity of apoptotic tumor cells. Since efferocytosis and associated molecular mechanisms are still being studied, new insights into the activation and regulation of the dying cell response are likely to lead to the discovery of new cancer, autoimmunity, neurodegeneration, and beyond treatment paradigms. Efferocytosis is regulated by a number of factors that mediate functions such as dead cell identification and activation of the multi-step process from cell death to cell clearance, demonstrating

#### *Efferocytosis: An Interface between Apoptosis and Pathophysiology DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.97819*

the importance of efferocytosis in growth, homeostasis, and pathophysiology. The ability of phagocytes to clear cellular debris is required, at least in part, for the homeostatic function of almost every major physiological system. Efferocytosis dysfunction causes severe disease, while activation of efferocytosis promotes immune silence through anti-inflammatory signal processing in the context of clearing apoptotic cells and the involvement of the LAP machinery. Since current research suggests that efferocytosis and LAP involvement are beneficial in a variety of settings, inducing an inflammatory response by inducing LAP and efferocytosis can be beneficial in the treatment of various cancers. Established cancer therapies, such as checkpoint blockade, may be improved by developing therapeutics that target components of these pathways, such as enhancing the immunogenicity of apoptotic tumor cells.
