Obesity, Metabolism and the Immune System

Immunometabolism is a field of study that focusses on understanding metabolic pathways in the immune cells. Metabolism and immunity have always been considered two separate systems with distinct functions, with metabolism regulating transformation/assimilation of nutrients and the immune system regulating the capacity of an individual to respond to infections. Ongoing research reveals that these two systems work together regulating the individual’s response to stress, and metabolic studies represent a rapidly emerging and evolving field of research. It is well known that effector cell function is intrinsically linked to cell metabolism and it has been shown that metabolic enzymes and their regulators can also have a direct effect in the regulation of cell function. Cell activation is critically supported by metabolic shifts that fuel multiple aspects of cell activation and differentiation, suggesting the exciting possibility that cell function in various conditions could be regulated by manipulating the cell’s metabolism. Numerous age-related changes occur in the human immune system especially beginning the sixth decade of life. Aging is often associated with a progressive decline in health resulting in the loss of quality of life that limits health-span, defined as number of years spent in good health. One critical goal of aging research is to increase health-span. The understanding of dysregulated immune cell metabolism as an elemental cause of many age-related diseases is gaining attention in recent years. How metabolic alterations accumulate during the aging process in the different immune cells is not yet known.

This Research Topic welcomes submissions on:
• Inflammaging and metainflammation
• Obesity and metabolic regulation of the immune system during aging
• Dysregulation of cellular homeostasis pathways and the onset and progression of obesity-associated inflammation
• Therapeutic interventions to prevent obesity-associated inflammaging