Assessing the Impact of the Nutrient Microenvironment on the Metabolism of Effector CD8 T Cells.

Immune cell function is tightly regulated by cellular metabolism, which in turn is strongly linked to the nutrient availability in the microenvironment surrounding the cells. This link is critical for effector CD8 T cells which, after activation, must migrate from nutrient-rich environments into nutrient-scarce regions such as the tumor microenvironment. Assessing how nutrient availability modulates the metabolism of effector CD8 T cells is thus key for understanding how harsh environments may impair their proliferation and effector function. Here, we describe an approach to systematically study the impact of the nutrient microenvironment on the metabolism of effector CD8 T cells, based on performing stable C isotope labeling measurements on in vitro-differentiated murine effector CD8 T cells.