NK Cell Metabolism

This month we would like to open discussion on NK cell metabolism. There is a growing understanding of the critical role cell metabolism plays in regulating immune cell function. For instance, in T cells and macrophages, it is now understood that modulating cell metabolism is sufficient to determine subset polarization and function. This year in particular, a number of impactful studies have emerged from groups in Europe, the United States, and Asia demonstrating that cell metabolism is integral to NK cell development, education, activation, effector functions, and memory generation. Please see the following links for some selected publications on this topic:

Assmann et al. (2017) Nat Immunol: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28920951

Schafer et al. (2018) J Allergy Clin Immunol: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30096390

Cichocki et al. (2018) J Exp Med: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30061358

Loftus et al. (2018) Nat Commun: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29904050

Wang et al. (2018) Nat Commun: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30451838

Indeed, this developing field holds pivotal implications fundamental to NK cell biology and function, yet many questions remain to be explored.

Our questions are as follows:

1) What are important future areas of study on NK cell metabolism? What are current gaps in the literature?

2) What can we do to develop the field of NK cell metabolism in Canada?

3) Are there groups in Canada currently working on NK cell metabolism and if so, what techniques are groups employing to study metabolism?

Please feel free to discuss these questions and any others you may have about NK cell metabolism in this section of the forum.