Daniel Hoffmann 🌼#Macrophages are #immune cells good at hoovering up pathogens. Turns out that they are real predators that use gobbled bacteria as fuel. Depending on whether this food is dead or alive they become more tame or go berserk. Massive work. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-08629-4
Macrophages recycle phagocytosed bacteria to fuel immunometabolic responses - Nature
Phagocytosed bacteria can serve as an alternative nutrient source for macrophages, influencing their metabolic and immune responses through the recycling of microbial components, with the process regulated by nutrient-sensing mechanisms and bacterial viability.