Department of Medicine, University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge, UK.
Nat Immunol. 2018 Mar;19(3):213-221. doi: 10.1038/s41590-018-0045-y. Epub 2018 Feb 5.
It has become increasingly clear that changes in metabolism are not just consequences of T cell activation but instead are also essential drivers of that process that shape the extent and nature of differentiation and function. The process of T cell exhaustion has been linked to the outcome of chronic immune responses in multiple contexts, including chronic infection, cancer and autoimmunity. Factors that regulate the development and maintenance of exhaustion are of increasing interest as targets of therapeutic modulation. Studies have shown T cell immunometabolism to be integral to the control and development of T cell exhaustion. Early metabolic changes are responsible for the later emergence of exhaustion, do not simply reflect changes secondary to chronic activation and are modifiable. Increased understanding of this metabolic control promises to improve the ability to modulate T cell immunity to chronic antigen stimulation in multiple contexts.
越来越明显的是，代谢变化不仅是 T 细胞激活的后果，而且还是该过程的重要驱动因素，决定了分化和功能的程度和性质。在多种情况下，包括慢性感染、癌症和自身免疫，T 细胞耗竭过程与慢性免疫反应的结果有关。调节耗竭发展和维持的因素作为治疗调节的靶点越来越受到关注。研究表明，T 细胞免疫代谢对于控制和发展 T 细胞耗竭是必不可少的。早期代谢变化负责随后出现的耗竭，它们不仅仅反映慢性激活引起的变化，而且是可以调节的。对这种代谢控制的深入了解有望提高在多种情况下调节 T 细胞对慢性抗原刺激的免疫能力。
