Hypoxia and the regulation of myeloid cell metabolic imprinting: consequences for the inflammatory response

Inflamed and infected tissue sites are characterised by oxygen and nutrient deprivation. The cellular adaptations to insufficient oxygenation, hypoxia, are mainly regulated by a family of transcription factors known as hypoxia-inducible factors (HIFs). The protein members of the HIF signalling pathway are critical regulators of both the innate and adaptive immune responses, and there is an increasing body of evidence to suggest that the elicited changes occur through cellular metabolic reprogramming. Here, we review the literature on innate immunometabolism to date and discuss the role of hypoxia in innate cell metabolic reprogramming, and how this determines immune responses.