**6. Conclusion**

Macrophages and dendritic cells play a crucial role in preventing the growth of cancer cells by recognizing, engulfing, digesting, and eliminating them through phagocytosis. This process is a key aspect of the body's defense against cancer, but cancer cells can develop various mechanisms to evade immune-mediated killing. Understanding these immune evasion mechanisms is important for developing strategies to improve phagocytic activity in cancer patients and enhance the effectiveness of cancer treatments. In recent years, there has been growing interest in using immune checkpoint inhibitors and engineered cell-based immunotherapies to enhance phagocytic activity in cancer patients. In conclusion, phagocytosis is an important cellular process in the body's defense against cancer, and it plays a crucial role in the development of immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer. Overall, this chapter underscores the importance of phagocytosis in cancer prevention and treatment, and highlights the potential for using this process to develop novel and effective cancer therapies.

### **Acknowledgements**

I acknowledge Late Prof. Michael Green, and the Department of Molecular Cell and Cancer Biology, UMass Chan Medical School, for providing all the necessary resources and support.
