The Effect of the Tumor Microenvironment and Tumor-Derived Metabolites on Dendritic Cell Function

Dendritic cells (DCs) have a critical effect on the outcome of adaptive immune responses against growing tumors. Recent studies on the metabolism on DCs provide new insights on the functioning of these critical controllers of innate and adaptive immunity. DCs within the tumor microenvironment (TME) often exist in an inactive state, which is thought to limit the adaptive immune response elicited by the growing tumor. Tumor-derived factors in the TME are known to suppress DC activation and result in functional alterations in DC phenotype. We are now beginning to appreciate that many of these factors can also induce changes in immune cell metabolism. In this review, we discuss the functional alternation of DC phenotype by tumor metabolites.