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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2018 Jul 5.
Published in final edited form as: Cell Metab. 2017 Jul 5;26(1):94–109. doi: 10.1016/j.cmet.2017.06.016

Figure 5. The tumor microenvironment fosters a struggle for T cells to acquire key nutrients.

Figure 5

At the tumor site, several factors act in opposition to anti-tumor T cells acquiring sufficient nutrients to support immune function. Tumor cells are known to take up large amounts of key nutrients that are required for optimal T cell activity, including glucose, amino acids and fatty acids. Tumor expression of the inhibitory PD-L1 molecule acts to both directly inhibit T cell metabolism and to further promote the metabolic activity of the tumor. Anti-tumor T cells must also manage the impact of tumor-localized suppressive cell subsets such as MDSCs and Treg, which can act to deplete key nutrients such as arginine and tryptophan. Taken together, anti-tumor T cells must face and overcome a challenging metabolic microenvironment in order to successfully mount an immune response against tumors.