Related Experiment Video
Updated: Nov 8, 2025

Measuring Mitochondrial Function of Naïve and Effector CD8 T Cells
Published on: March 28, 2025
How metabolism bridles cytotoxic CD8+ T cells through epigenetic modifications
Heleen H Van Acker1, Shixin Ma2, Tommaso Scolaro1
1Laboratory of Tumor Inflammation and Angiogenesis, VIB - KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
Abstract:
In the direct competition for metabolic resources between cancer cells and tumor-infiltrating CD8+ T cells, the latter are bound to lose out. These effector lymphocytes are therefore rendered exhausted or dysfunctional. Emerging insights into the mechanisms of T cell unresponsiveness in the tumor microenvironment (TME) point towards epigenetic mechanisms as crucial regulatory factors. In this review, we discuss the effects of characteristic components of the TME, i.e. glucose/amino acid dearth with elevated levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS), on DNA methylation and histone modifications in CD8+ T cells. We then take a closer look at the translational potential of epigenetic interventions that aim to improve current immunotherapeutic strategies, including the adoptive transfer of T cell receptor (TCR) or chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) engineered T cells.
More Related Videos
10:13Tailoring In Vivo Cytotoxicity Assays to Study Immunodominance in Tumor-specific CD8+ T Cell Responses
Published on: May 6, 2019
09:57Real Time Detection of In Vitro Tumor Cell Apoptosis Induced by CD8+ T Cells to Study Immune Suppressive Functions of Tumor-infiltrating Myeloid Cells
Published on: January 29, 2019
Related Concept Videos
Epigenetic Regulation
X-chromosome...
Epigenetic Regulation
Cytotoxic T Cells-mediated Immune Response
Immunological surveillance is the ability of immune cells to monitor and eliminate infected cells with intracellular pathogens, neoplastically transformed cells, and cells with non-self antigens. Cytotoxic T cells and NK...
T Cell Types and Functions
Th1 cells stimulate dendritic cells to express necessary co-stimulatory molecules on their surfaces for...
T Cell Activation and Clonal Selection
Naive T cells that have not yet encountered an antigen express two primary CD...
Abnormal Proliferation