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Mitochondrial fission in macrophages fuels phagocytosis of tumor cells

Mitochondrial fission in macrophages is essential for the phagocytosis of tumor cells. Resistance of tumor cells to phagocytosis involves overexpression of GFPT2, an enzyme involved in glutamine metabolism; this results in lower nutrient availability for macrophages to support mitochondrial fission and prevents assembly of the phagocytic machinery.

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Fig. 1: Mitochondrial fission in macrophages controls the phagocytosis of cancer cells.

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This is a summary of: Li, J. et al. Macrophage mitochondrial fission improves cancer cell phagocytosis induced by therapeutic antibodies and is impaired by glutamine competition. Nat. Cancer https://doi.org/10.1038/s43018-022-00354-5 (2022).

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Mitochondrial fission in macrophages fuels phagocytosis of tumor cells. Nat Cancer 3, 384–385 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43018-022-00350-9

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