Cellular metabolism in T cell activation and aging

Infectious diseases are a leading cause of death in elderly people who are more prone to severe infections and are less responsive to vaccination due to dysfunction of the immune system. Therefore, finding new strategies to stimulate the adaptive immune response, and specifically T lymphocytes in the elderly is essential. T cell stimulation and effector functions are metabolically demanding, and the ability to reshape intracellular metabolism is crucial for T cells to exit quiescence. Whether such flexibility in cellular metabolism is conserved in aged T cells is unknown. We found that metabolic rewiring was incomplete in aged T cells. Moreover, supplementation of deficient metabolites improved T cell functions. These studies reveal skewed metabolic remodeling in aged T cells and provide evidence that modulation of metabolism has the potential to rescue immune function in aging.