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. 2021 Mar 5;13(5):1123. doi: 10.3390/cancers13051123

Table 1.

Summary of TME mediated modulation of immunometabolism.

TME Factors Affecting Immune Cell Metabolism Direct and Indirect Metabolic Impairment of Immune Cells in TME Strategy to Overcome Induced Metabolic Impairment References
Increased hypoxia Increases HIF1-a and PD-L1 on MDSCs for T cell exhaustion and Treg generation Anti-PD-L1 and HIF inhibitors [43,69,70]
Increased reactive oxygen species Oxidative stress-mediated inhibition of NF-kB or mTOR for the prevention of T cell activation Catalase, an antioxidant enzyme [32,42]
Decreased glucose availability Reduced AKT, mTOR, GLUT1, phosphoenolpyruvate, and increased PD-1 expression in T cells anti-PD-1, anti-PD-L1, anti-CTLA-4 [27,46,48,49,50]
Increased lactate Inhibition of T cell glycolysis and function Blocking acidification prior to anti-PD-1 or anti-CTLA-4 administration [52]
Low levels of arginine Reduced responsiveness of T cells due to decreased expression of CD3ζ chain Administering arginine [55,56]