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Immunometabolism

Metabolic adaptation in CD4+ T cells promotes immunosuppression in sepsis

Immune dysfunction and aberrant metabolic remodeling are hallmarks of critical illness including sepsis. Metabolic adaptation of CD4+ T cells is now shown to contribute to immunosuppression and poor clinical outcomes in critical illness.

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Fig. 1: Critical illness-induced metabolic adaptation in CD4+ T cell populations and functional effects on Treg cells.

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Authors and Affiliations

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Contributions

N.M.C. conceived, wrote and edited the manuscript, and generated the figure. H.C. edited the manuscript and figure, acquired funding and provided overall supervision.

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Correspondence to Hongbo Chi.

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Competing interests

H.C. consults for Kumquat Biosciences and TCura Bioscience and is a co-inventor on patents/patent applications in the field of immunotherapy. N.M.C. declares no competing interests.

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Chapman, N.M., Chi, H. Metabolic adaptation in CD4+ T cells promotes immunosuppression in sepsis. Nat Immunol (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41590-025-02403-4

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