Journal
STEM CELLS
Volume 34, Issue 2, Pages 516-521Publisher
WILEY-BLACKWELL
DOI: 10.1002/stem.2234
Keywords
Mesenchymal stromal cells; Immunometabolism; T-cell suppression; mTOR Signaling; IDO
Categories
Funding
- IZKF Erlangen
- Max-Eder program of the Deutsche Krebshilfe
- ELAN program of the University of Erlangen
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) possess numerous regenerative and immune modulating functions. Transplantation across histocompatibility barriers is feasible due to their hypoimmunogenicity. MSCs have emerged as promising tools for treating graft-versus-host disease following allogeneic stem cell transplantation. It is well established that their clinical efficacy is substantially attributed to fine-tuning of T-cell responses. At the same time, increasing evidence suggests that metabolic processes control T-cell function and fate. Here, we investigated the MSCs' impact on the metabolic framework of activated T-cells. In fact, MSCs led to mitigated mTOR signaling. This phenomenon was accompanied by a weaker glycolytic response (including glucose uptake, glycolytic rate, and upregulation of glycolytic machinery) toward T-cell activating stimuli. Notably, MSCs express indoleamine-2,3-dioxygenase (IDO), which mediates T-cell suppressive tryptophan catabolism. Our observations suggest that IDO-induced tryptophan depletion interferes with a tryptophan-sufficiency signal that promotes cellular mTOR activation. Despite an immediate suppression of T-cell responses, MSCs foster a metabolically quiescent T-cell phenotype characterized by reduced mTOR signaling and glycolysis, increased autophagy, and lower oxidative stress levels. In fact, those features have previously been shown to promote generation of long-lived memory cells and it remains to be elucidated how MSC-induced metabolic effects shape in vivo T-cell immunity.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available