Differential Reliance on Lipid Metabolism as a Salvage Pathway Underlies Functional Differences of T Cell Subsets in Poor Nutrient Environments

T cells compete with malignant cells for limited nutrients within the solid tumor microenvironment. We found that effector memory CD4 T cells respond distinctly from other T cell subsets to limiting glucose and can maintain high levels of interferon-γ (IFN-γ) production in a nutrient-poor environment. Unlike naive (T(N)) or central memory T (T(CM)) cells, effector memory T (T(EM)) cells fail to upregulate fatty acid synthesis, oxidative phosphorylation, and reductive glutaminolysis in limiting glucose. Interference of fatty acid synthesis in naive T cells dramatically upregulates IFN-γ, while increasing exogenous lipids in media inhibits production of IFN-γ by all subsets, suggesting that relative ratio of fatty acid metabolism to glycolysis is a direct predictor of T cell effector activity. Together, these data suggest that effector memory T cells are programmed to have limited ability to synthesize and metabolize fatty acids, which allows them to maintain T cell function in nutrient-depleted microenvironments.