Tumor-Induced Metabolism and T Cells Located in Tumor Environment

Abstract

: Several subtypes of T cells are located in a tumor environment, each of which supplies their energy using different metabolic mechanisms. Since the cancer cells require high levels of glucose, the conditions of food poverty in the tumor environment can cause inactivation of immune cells, especially the T-effector cells, due to the need for glucose in the early stages of these cells activity. Different signaling pathways such as PI3K-AKt-mTOR, MAPK, HIF-1α, etc active or inactive by the amount and type of energy source or oxygen levels that determine the fate of T cells in a cancerous environment. This review describes the metabolites in the tumor environment and their effects on the function of T cells. It also explains the signaling pathway of T cells in the tumor and normal conditions, due to the level of access to available metabolites and subtypes of T cells in the tumor environment.

Metabolic heterogeneity and immunocompetence of infiltrating immune cells in the breast cancer microenvironment (Review)

“…Various studies have found that OXPHOS and glycolysis, especially glycolytic flux, are significantly increased in effector T cells (47)(48)(49). By contrast, Tregs show a unique metabolic program that mainly utilizes mitochondrial oxidation of lipids and pyruvate (50,51).…”