Research

Hormonal

Leptin is required to metabolically license activated effector T cells for glucose uptake and cytokine production, linking systemic nutritional status to immune function.

For optimal immune function, especially during stress or dieting, maintaining healthy leptin levels through adequate energy intake is crucial. Simply eating enough food might not be enough if hormonal signaling is disrupted; leptin acts as a necessary 'key' to allow immune cells to use energy effectively.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
We show that leptin is essential for activated T cells to upregulate glucose uptake and metabolism. This effect was cell intrinsic and specific to activated effector T cells, as naive T cells and regulatory T cells did not require leptin for metabolic regulation.
Donte C. Saucillo et al. · The Journal of Immunology · 2013

Why this rating

Strong mechanistic evidence using multiple mouse models (knockouts, transgenics, fasting) and in vitro assays.

Source

Leptin Metabolically Licenses T Cells for Activation To Link Nutrition and Immunity

Donte C. Saucillo et al. · The Journal of Immunology · 2013

DOI 10.4049/jimmunol.1301158

mechanism_onlyCited 294×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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