REVIEW article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Cancer Immunity and Immunotherapy
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1656776
This article is part of the Research TopicImmunometabolism: Exploring the Nexus of Metabolism and Immune Function in Health and DiseaseView all 6 articles
Immunometabolism in cancer: a systemic perspective
Provisionally accepted
- 1King's College London, London, United Kingdom
- 2University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom
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Cancer incidence is increasing, becoming a significant public health concern. Cancer arises from the uncontrolled division of cells that cannot be restrained by the anti-tumour response mounted by the immune system. Both tumour and immune cells require high levels of energy in the form of ATP and synthesis of macromolecules to support differentiation and proliferation. To support these metabolic demands, adaptations at the cell, tissue and systemic level are required. Here, we take a systemic perspective to summarise the energetic needs of the anti-tumour response and how metabolic overload and obesity affects these processes. We describe how immunotherapies that aim to reverse immune cell exhaustion have unexpected effects depending on the metabolic background of the patient and finally we propose the use of this knowledge to advance current cancer prevention and treatment strategies.
Keywords: Cancer, systemic immunometabolism, Immunotherapy, Obesity, T cells
Received: 01 Jul 2025; Accepted: 22 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Moretti, Cioccoloni and Perucha. 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:
Helena Moretti, helena.moretti@kcl.ac.uk
Esperanza Perucha, esperanza.perucha@kcl.ac.uk
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.