Modulating T cell metabolism to improve T cell therapy

Cancer immunotherapy has transformed conventional approaches to cancer treatment, leveraging the body’s immune system to target cancer cells. While adoptive cell therapy and immune checkpoint inhibitors have yielded substantial successes in treating hematological malignancies and immunogenic cancer types, a considerable proportion of patients with solid tumors do not respond to these treatments. The effectiveness of cancer immunotherapy relies on various factors, encompassing both endogenous and synthetic immunity. Moreover, patients exhibit improved outcomes when there is an augmented population of stem-like memory or precursor characteristics in endogenous or adoptively transferred T cells. In this chapter, we will discuss the basics of T cell metabolism and metabolic features in the tumor microenvironment and focus on strategies to overcome T cell metabolic constraints for an enhanced antitumor immune response.