REVIEW article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Inflammation
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1654034
This article is part of the Research TopicImmunometabolism at the Intersection of Signaling Networks and Therapeutic StrategiesView all articles
Steroid hormone regulation of immunometabolism and inflammation
Provisionally accepted
- University of Connecticut, Storrs, United States
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The metabolism of immune cells adapts to support the energy demands for their activation, differentiation, and effector functions through a process known as metabolic reprogramming. This metabolic plasticity is influenced by both extrinsic and intrinsic factors, including steroid hormones such as glucocorticoids, androgens, progestogens, and estrogens. These critical mediators modulate immune function and inflammatory responses through genomic and non-genomic regulation of intracellular metabolic pathways, including glycolysis, the tricarboxylic acid cycle, and oxidative phosphorylation. Interestingly, these effects appear to be dependent on cell type, hormonal concentration, and microenvironmental context. Herein, we discuss how steroid hormones regulate inflammation and immunometabolism and summarize recent studies highlighting immunometabolic regulation by steroid hormones as the key driver of their immunomodulatory effects. We also address potential mechanisms contributing to their seemingly dichotomous and context-specific regulation. Understanding the link between steroid hormone signaling, immunometabolism, host defense, chronic inflammation, and immunity will expand our understanding about how biological sex and stress influence the immune system, and facilitate more precise therapeutic targeting of immune cell activity to mitigate inflammation- and immune-mediated diseases.
Keywords: steroid hormones, Immunometabolism, immune, Inflammation, Glycolysis, Oxidative Phosphorylation
Received: 25 Jun 2025; Accepted: 31 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Smith, Ramar, Riley, Mathias and Lee. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Ley Cody Smith, University of Connecticut, Storrs, United States
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