Mitotic inactivation of the cGAS‒MITA/STING pathways.

The cyclic GMP‒AMP synthase (cGAS)‒mediator of interferon response factor 3 activation/stimulator of interferon genes (MITA/STING) axis has emerged as a major pathway, which senses microbial or mis-located cellular DNA in the cytosol to trigger innate immune responses. cGAS senses cytosolic DNA without a preference of self or non-self DNA. How the cGAS‒MITA/STING axis is inactivated upon nuclear membrane breakdown (NEBD) at mitotic entry in vertebrate cells to avoid self DNA sensing remains unclear until very recently. In this review, we summarize the recent advances on how cGAS responds to chromosomes upon NEBD and the mechanisms involved in the inactivation of the cGAS‒MITA/STING pathways in mitosis.