Molecular Mechanisms Underpinning Immunometabolic Reprogramming: How the Wind Changes during Cancer Progression

Irene Flati; Mauro Di Vito Nolfi; Francesca Dall'Aglio; Davide Vecchiotti; Daniela Verzella; Edoardo Alesse; Daria Capece; Francesca Zazzeroni

doi:10.3390/genes14101953

Molecular Mechanisms Underpinning Immunometabolic Reprogramming: How the Wind Changes during Cancer Progression

Genes (Basel). 2023 Oct 17;14(10):1953. doi: 10.3390/genes14101953.

Authors

Irene Flati¹, Mauro Di Vito Nolfi¹, Francesca Dall'Aglio¹, Davide Vecchiotti¹, Daniela Verzella¹, Edoardo Alesse¹, Daria Capece¹, Francesca Zazzeroni¹

Affiliation

¹ Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences (DISCAB), University of L'Aquila, Via Vetoio, Coppito 2, 67100 L'Aquila, Italy.

Abstract

Metabolism and the immunological state are intimately intertwined, as defense responses are bioenergetically expensive. Metabolic homeostasis is a key requirement for the proper function of immune cell subsets, and the perturbation of the immune-metabolic balance is a recurrent event in many human diseases, including cancer, due to nutrient fluctuation, hypoxia and additional metabolic changes occurring in the tumor microenvironment (TME). Although much remains to be understood in the field of immunometabolism, here, we report the current knowledge on both physiological and cancer-associated metabolic profiles of immune cells, and the main molecular circuits involved in their regulation, highlighting similarities and differences, and emphasizing immune metabolic liabilities that could be exploited in cancer therapy to overcome immune resistance.

Keywords: AMPK; NF-κB; PI3K/Akt/mTOR; cancer; immunometabolism; immunosuppressive TME.

Publication types

Review
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Humans
Neoplasms* / pathology
Tumor Microenvironment / genetics
Wind*

Grants and funding

This research was funded by MIUR PRIN (n° 2017WLKYAM_1) NextGenerationEU under the Italian Ministry of University and Research (MUR) National Innovation Ecosystem grant ECS00000041-VITALITY-CUP E13C22001060006 to F.Z., intramural DISCAB GRANT 2022 awarded by the Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences, University of L’Aquila (07_DG_2022_02) and Progetto di Ricerca di Ateneo per la Ricerca di Base—University of L’Aquila (07_Progetto_Ricerca_Ateneo_Capece) to D.C. I.F. is supported by Experimental Medicine PhD program of University of L’Aquila. F.D.A. is enrolled in Experimental Medicine PhD program of University of L’Aquila founded by NextGenerationEU under the Italian Ministry of University and Research (MUR) National Innovation Ecosystem grant ECS00000041-VITALITY-CUP E13C22001060006.