Jiang Mingxia, Fang Huapan, Tian Huayu
State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Innovation Laboratory for Sciences and Technologies of Energy Materials of Fujian Province (IKKEM), Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China.
Shenzhen Research Institute of Xiamen University, Shenzhen 518000, China.
Theranostics. 2025 Jan 1;15(1):155-188. doi: 10.7150/thno.103376. eCollection 2025.
The metabolism of cancer and immune cells plays a crucial role in the initiation, progression, and metastasis of cancer. Cancer cells often undergo metabolic reprogramming to sustain their rapid growth and proliferation, along with meeting their energy demands and biosynthetic needs. Nevertheless, immune cells execute their immune response functions through the specific metabolic pathways, either to recognize, attack, and eliminate cancer cells or to promote the growth or metastasis of cancer cells. The alteration of cancer niches will impact the metabolism of both cancer and immune cells, modulating the survival and proliferation of cancer cells, and the activation and efficacy of immune cells. This review systematically describes the key characteristics of cancer cell metabolism and elucidates how such metabolic traits influence the metabolic behavior of immune cells. Moreover, this article also highlights the crucial role of immune cell metabolism in anti-tumor immune responses, particularly in priming T cell activation and function. By comprehensively exploring the metabolic crosstalk between cancer and immune cells in cancer niche, the aim is to discover novel strategies of cancer immunotherapy and provide effective guidance for clinical research in cancer treatment. In addition, the review also discusses current challenges such as the inadequacy of relevant diagnostic technologies and the issue of multidrug resistance, and proposes potential solutions including bolstering foundational cancer research, fostering technological innovation, and implementing precision medicine approaches. In-depth research into the metabolic effects of cancer niches can improve cancer treatment outcomes, prolong patients' survival period and enhance their quality of life.
癌症细胞与免疫细胞的代谢在癌症的发生、发展和转移过程中起着至关重要的作用。癌细胞常经历代谢重编程，以维持其快速生长和增殖，同时满足其能量需求和生物合成需求。然而，免疫细胞通过特定的代谢途径执行其免疫反应功能，要么识别、攻击和消除癌细胞，要么促进癌细胞的生长或转移。癌症微环境的改变会影响癌细胞和免疫细胞的代谢，调节癌细胞的存活和增殖以及免疫细胞的激活和功效。本综述系统地描述了癌细胞代谢的关键特征，并阐明了这些代谢特性如何影响免疫细胞的代谢行为。此外，本文还强调了免疫细胞代谢在抗肿瘤免疫反应中的关键作用，特别是在启动T细胞激活和功能方面。通过全面探索癌症微环境中癌细胞与免疫细胞之间的代谢相互作用，旨在发现癌症免疫治疗的新策略，并为癌症治疗的临床研究提供有效指导。此外，该综述还讨论了当前面临的挑战，如相关诊断技术的不足和多药耐药问题，并提出了潜在的解决方案，包括加强基础癌症研究、促进技术创新和实施精准医学方法。深入研究癌症微环境的代谢效应可以改善癌症治疗效果，延长患者生存期并提高其生活质量。
