For cancer- and infection-fighting T cells, glucose presents excess of a easy sugar rush.
A brand new discovery by Van Andel Institute scientists reveals that glucose, a vital mobile gas that powers immune cells, additionally aids in T cells’ inner communication and boosts their cancer-fighting properties. The findings could assist optimize T cells’ capability to fight most cancers and different illnesses.
A research describing the work is revealed in Cell Metabolism.
“Immune cells are extremely influenced by their atmosphere,” mentioned Joseph Longo, Ph.D., the research’s first creator and a postdoctoral fellow within the lab of Russell Jones, Ph.D. “We knew that T cells want entry to glucose to perform, however we did not know precisely why. It was beforehand thought that T cells primarily break down glucose for power, however our new work exhibits that T cells use glucose as a constructing block for different molecules which can be essential to help T cells’ anti-cancer properties.”
The findings reveal that T cells allocate important parts of glucose to construct giant molecules referred to as glycosphingolipids (GSLs). These sugar-fat compounds are important for T cell development and making proteins that T cells use to fight most cancers.
GSLs assist type fat-rich constructions on T cell surfaces referred to as lipid rafts, which carry collectively cell signaling proteins that instruct the T cell to kill most cancers cells. With out GSLs, these alerts are weaker, making T cells much less efficient at destroying tumors.
“Each T cells and most cancers cells leverage totally different vitamins to help various facets of their perform,” Jones mentioned. “The extra we learn about these totally different gas sources, the higher we are able to help T cells’ innate cancer-fighting talents whereas additionally growing methods to presumably make most cancers cells extra susceptible to immune assault.”
Extra info:
Joseph Longo et al, Glucose-dependent glycosphingolipid biosynthesis fuels CD8+ T cell perform and tumor management, Cell Metabolism (2025). DOI: 10.1016/j.cmet.2025.07.006
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Glucose helps T cells construct cancer-fighting constructions, not simply present power (2025, August 5)
retrieved 5 August 2025
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