Living with yourself: Innate lymphoid cell immunometabolism

Abstract

Innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) are tissue-resident sentinels of the immune system that function to protect local tissue microenvironments against pathogens and maintain homeostasis. However, because ILCs are sensitively tuned to perturbations within tissues, they can also contribute to host pathology when critical activating signals become dysregulated. Recent work has demonstrated that the crosstalk between ILCs and their environment has a significant impact on host metabolism in health and disease. In this review, we summarize studies that support evidence for the ability of ILCs to influence tissue and systemic metabolism, as well as how ILCs can be regulated by environmental changes in systemic host metabolism. We also highlight studies demonstrating how ILC-intrinsic metabolism influences their activation, proliferation, and homeostasis. Finally, this review discusses the challenges and open questions in the rapidly expanding field of ILCs and immunometabolism.