The "Warburg effect" is historically associated with tumour cell generation of energy through glycolysis. However, this process is a less efficient way to produce ATP. It has recently been proposed to function as a metabolism adaptation to increase the uptake and incorporation of nutrients (nucleotides, amino acids, lipids, etc.), which allows the production of a new cell. This concept extends past tumour cells and into any cell that proliferates, specifically T lymphocyte cells. T cells are one of the most important white blood cells, and they are essential for the adaptive/acquired immune system. Glucose is converted to pyruvic acid via glycolysis. Pyruvate Kinase M2 is downregulated by tyrosine kinases (PI3K/Akt pathway). This downregulation will allow more lactic acid production by Lactate dehydrogenase A (LDHA). LDHA sustains aerobic glycolysis by regenerating NAD+ used in the glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) glycolysis step. In activated T cells, this increased activity of GAPDH will promote the expression of IFNg. The IFNg cytokine is essential for the T cell proliferation pathway.

Aerobic Glycolysis (Warburg Effect) in T Lymphocytes References