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Review
. 2024 Feb 23:15:1334006.
doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1334006. eCollection 2024.

Mitochondria: the gatekeepers between metabolism and immunity

Giovanna Trinchese  1 , Fabiano Cimmino  1 , Angela Catapano  1 , Gina Cavaliere  2 , Maria Pina Mollica  1   3
Affiliations
Review

Mitochondria: the gatekeepers between metabolism and immunity

Giovanna Trinchese et al. Front Immunol. .

Abstract

Metabolism and immunity are crucial monitors of the whole-body homeodynamics. All cells require energy to perform their basic functions. One of the most important metabolic skills of the cell is the ability to optimally adapt metabolism according to demand or availability, known as metabolic flexibility. The immune cells, first line of host defense that circulate in the body and migrate between tissues, need to function also in environments in which nutrients are not always available. The resilience of immune cells consists precisely in their high adaptive capacity, a challenge that arises especially in the framework of sustained immune responses. Pubmed and Scopus databases were consulted to construct the extensive background explored in this review, from the Kennedy and Lehninger studies on mitochondrial biochemistry of the 1950s to the most recent findings on immunometabolism. In detail, we first focus on how metabolic reconfiguration influences the action steps of the immune system and modulates immune cell fate and function. Then, we highlighted the evidence for considering mitochondria, besides conventional cellular energy suppliers, as the powerhouses of immunometabolism. Finally, we explored the main immunometabolic hubs in the organism emphasizing in them the reciprocal impact between metabolic and immune components in both physiological and pathological conditions.

Keywords: immunometabolism; metabolic flexibility; metabolic reprogramming; mitochondrial dynamics; mitochondrial function.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The immunometabolic control has significant clinical relevance for the health status of the organism. The reciprocal impact between metabolic and immune components unveils in the main body’s immunometabolic hubs in both physiological and pathological conditions.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work was supported by National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), Mission 4 Component 2 Investment 1.3—Call for proposals No. 341 on 15 March 2022 from the Italian Ministry of University and Research funded by the European Union–NextGenerationEU; Project code PE00000003, Concession Decree No. 1550 on 11 October 2022 adopted by the Italian Ministry of University and Research, CUP D93C22000890001, Project title “ON Foods-Research and innovation network on food and nutrition Sustainability, Safety and Security–Working ON Foods”.