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Updated: May 10, 2026

Exploring the Regulation of Lipid Droplet Catabolism through Lipophagy
Published on: January 31, 2025
Autophagy proteins regulate cell engulfment mechanisms that participate in cancer
Sung Eun Kim1, Michael Overholtzer
1BCMB Allied Program, Weill Cornell Medical College, 1300 York Avenue, New York, NY 10065, USA; Cell Biology Program, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10065, USA.
Abstract:
Recent evidence has uncovered cross-regulation of mechanisms of cell engulfment by proteins of the autophagy pathway, in what is called LC3-Associated Phagocytosis, or LAP. By LAP, lysosome fusion to phagosomes and the degradation of engulfed extracellular cargo are facilitated by autophagy proteins that lipidate LC3 onto phagosome membranes. Here we discuss the contexts where LAP is known to occur by focusing on potential roles in tumorigenesis, including predicted consequences of LAP inhibition.
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