Peritoneal carcinomatosis is a metastatic disease caused by tumour cells that disseminate into the abdominal cavity and adhere to human peritoneal mesothelial cells (HMCs), covering the intra-abdominal cavity. Therapeutic strategies for this disease aim to induce tumour cell death and subsequent removal of these dying tumour cells can occur through the action of either professional or semi-professional phagocytes. Here, Alfred Königsrainer and co-workers (page 1644) describe a new ‘amateur’ phagocyte – the HMC – that engulfs dying ovarian and colorectal cancer cells, as well as other types of apoptotic cell. By using a combination of flow cytometry and microscopical analyses the authors show that HMCs ingest fragments of dying cells in a manner that depends on an active actin cytoskeleton; these fragments are then trafficked to late phagolysosomes. Furthermore, the authors demonstrate that HMC removal of apoptotic tumour cells can occur through a serum-dependent or -independent mechanism. Finally, multiple...

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