title: Starving for survival-how catabolic metabolism fuels immune function.
abstract: Infections disturb homeostasis and often induce a switch to catabolic organismal metabolism. During catabolism, increased systemic availability of glucose, fatty acids and ketone bodies is observed, and recent evidence indicates that these metabolites might serve an immunomodulatory function. However, whereas our understanding of direct pathogen recognition by the host immune system is quite detailed, much less is known about the immunobiology of the metabolic host response to infection. In this review article we briefly discuss how pathogens induce 'dys-homeostasis' systemically, locally, and within cells, and provide examples of how such changes can shape immune-functionality during the course of an infection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedicine, Immunobiology, University of Basel, 4031 Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Maria L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Balmer
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedicine, Immunobiology, University of Basel, 4031 Basel, Switzerland. Electronic address: christoph.hess@usb.ch.
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hess
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004734:Energy Metabolism / Q000276:immunology*; D005232:Fatty Acids, Volatile / Q000378:metabolism; D006706:Homeostasis; D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007107:Immune System / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D056747:Immunomodulation; D007657:Ketone Bodies / Q000378:metabolism; D015398:Signal Transduction; D000073893:Sugars / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D005232:Fatty Acids, Volatile; D007657:Ketone Bodies; D000073893:Sugars