Metabolic pathways in T cell fate and function

　

　

Valerie A. Gerriets, Jeffrey C. Rathmell

Published:February 21, 2012DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.it.2012.01.010

 

T cell growth and function must be tightly regulated to provide protection against foreign pathogens, while avoiding autoimmunity and immunodeficiency. It is now apparent that T cell metabolism is highly dynamic and has a tremendous impact on the ability of T cells to grow, activate and differentiate. Specific metabolic pathways provide energy and biosynthetic precursors that must support specific cell functions, as effector, regulatory, memory, and alloreactive T cells have distinct metabolic needs in immunity and inflammation. Here, we review the signaling pathways that control metabolism and how the metabolic phenotypes of T cell subtypes integrate with T cell function. Ultimately, these metabolic differences may provide new opportunities to modulate the immune response and treat inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.

 

Metabolic pathways in T cell fate and function: Trends in Immunology  https://www.cell.com/trends/immunology/fulltext/S1471-4906(12)00019-1