Interestingly, a recent study demonstrated that impaired mitophagy led to the non-removal of mitochondria from red blood cells in some SLE patients, which promoted the induction of type I IFNs via cGAS-STING when phagocytosed by monocyte-derived macrophages in vitro (43), suggesting another mechanism that can activate cGAS-STING in monocytic cells. Here, CGAS is linked to systemic lupus erythematosus.