It is now clear that access to specific metabolic programmes controls the survival and function of various immune cell populations, including T cells. Efficient naïve and memory T cell homoeostasis requires the use of specific metabolic pathways and differentiation requires rapid and dramatic metabolic remodelling. While we are beginning to appreciate the crucial role of metabolic programming during normal T cell physiology, many of the potential impacts of ageing on metabolic homoeostasis and remodelling in T cells remain unexplored. This review will outline our current understanding of T cell metabolism and explore age-related metabolic changes that are postulated or have been demonstrated to impact T cell function.
Keywords: T cell; ageing; cell signalling; immunosenescence; metabolism.
© 2019 The Authors. Clinical & Translational Immunology published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Australian and New Zealand Society for Immunology, Inc.