Glucose Metabolism Regulates T Cell Activation, Differentiation, and Functions

The adaptive immune system is equipped to eliminate both tumors and pathogenic microorganisms. It requires a series of complex and coordinated signals to drive the activation, proliferation, and differentiation of appropriate T cell subsets. It is now established that changes in cellular activation are coupled to profound changes in cellular metabolism. In addition, emerging evidence now suggest that specific metabolic alterations associated with distinct T cell subsets may be ancillary to their differentiation and influential in their immune functions. The "Warburg effect" originally used to describe a phenomenon in which most cancer cells relied on aerobic glycolysis for their growth is a key process that…

• BI
  Burnet Institute
• AC
  Australian Centre for HIV and Hepatitis Virology Research
• MR
  Medical Research Council
• NH
  National Health and Medical Research Council