Immunometabolism

Metabolism is the process by which cells match their energy and biosynthesis requirements with metabolic substrate availability through the integration of cues from energy sensors that launch complex transcriptional and posttranscriptional programs. Cellular metabolism is a recently recognized regulatory network of the effector functions in the immune system. The metabolic requirements of normal immune cells during their activation and differentiation into polarized effector subsets have been characterized in increasingly finer details, leading to the notion that diseases with an immunologic etiology, including lupus, can be targeted by manipulating the immunometabolism. This chapter reviews what is currently known about the altered metabolic patterns of CD4+ T cells, B cells, and myeloid cells in lupus patients and lupus-prone mice and how these patterns contribute to lupus pathogenesis. The text also discusses how defects in immune metabolism in lupus can be targeted therapeutically.