Center on Aging and Department of Immunology, University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Farmington, CT, United States.
Front Immunol. 2021 Jul 21;12:714742. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2021.714742. eCollection 2021.
It is well known that aging is associated with dysregulated metabolism. This is seen both in terms of systemic metabolism, as well as at the cellular level with clear mitochondrial dysfunction. More recently, the importance of cellular metabolism in immune cells, or immunometabolism, has been highlighted as a major modifier of immune cell function. Indeed, T cell activation, differentiation, and effector function partly depend on alterations in metabolic pathways with different cell types and functionality favoring either glycolysis or oxidative phosphorylation. While immune system dysfunction with aging is well described, what remains less elucidated is how the integral networks that control immune cell metabolism are specifically affected by age. In recent years, this significant gap has been identified and work has begun to investigate the various ways immunometabolism could be impacted by both chronological age and age-associated symptoms, such as the systemic accumulation of senescent cells. Here, in this mini-review, we will examine immunometabolism with a focus on T cells, aging, and interventions, such as mTOR modulators and senolytics. This review also covers a timely perspective on how immunometabolism may be an ideal target for immunomodulation with aging.
众所周知，衰老是与代谢失调有关的。这不仅表现在全身代谢方面，也表现在细胞水平上，存在明显的线粒体功能障碍。最近，细胞代谢在免疫细胞中的重要性，或免疫代谢，已被强调为免疫细胞功能的主要调节剂。事实上，T 细胞的激活、分化和效应功能部分取决于代谢途径的改变，不同的细胞类型和功能有利于糖酵解或氧化磷酸化。虽然衰老导致的免疫系统功能障碍已得到充分描述，但控制免疫细胞代谢的整体网络是如何受到年龄影响的，这一点仍不太清楚。近年来，这一重大差距已经被发现，人们开始研究免疫代谢可能受到年龄和与年龄相关的症状（如衰老细胞在体内的积累）的各种影响。在这里，在这个小型综述中，我们将重点关注 T 细胞、衰老以及干预措施，如 mTOR 调节剂和衰老细胞清除剂，来研究免疫代谢。这篇综述还涵盖了一个及时的观点，即免疫代谢可能是衰老免疫调节的理想靶点。
