Figure 1.

The tumor metabolic stress shapes an immunosuppressive the tumor microenvironment. An overview of metabolic stress in the TME that mediates immune suppression. In the TME, cancer cells exhibit a substantial demand of nutrients, including glucose, amino acids, and fatty acids, and this contributes to the lack of dioxygen and maintains high production of H⁺. These metabolic stresses promote tumor cell growth, increase the expression of immune checkpoint proteins and immunosuppressive cytokines secretion, enhance the inhibitory function of regulatory T cells, and inhibit the anti-tumor effect of tumor-infiltrating cytotoxic T cells, thereby leading to an immunosuppressive TME.