A new study indicates that triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 2 (TREM2) is an important phagocytic immunomodulator in mouse and human gliomas. TREM2 was found to regulate phagocytosis via the spleen tyrosine kinase pathway and, unlike in other cancers, TREM2 expression was not associated with immunosuppressive pathways. TREM2+ myeloid cells showed increased tumour uptake compared with TREM2– cells, which suggests that TREM2-enhancing strategies could be a therapeutic approach for gliomas.