Methionine Regulates Antitumour Function of CD8 + T Cells Through Polyamine Synthesis
Tian Zhao, Gillian A. Carleton, Sam Preshaw, Sarah MacPherson, Madison Shiyuk, Joseph Monaghan, Jun Han, Oro Uchenunu, Robert Rottapel, Ralph J. DeBerardinis, Kelly M. Stewart, Bo‐Hyun Kim, Juan Ausió, David R. Goodlett, Helena Pětrošová, Kyle D. Duncan, Julian J. Lum · 2026
Read Methionine Regulates Antitumour Function of CD8 + T Cells Through Polyamine Synthesis by Tian Zhao, Gillian A. Carleton, Sam Preshaw, Sarah MacPherson, Madison Shiyuk, Joseph Monaghan, Jun Han, Oro Uchenunu, Robert Rottapel, Ralph J. DeBerardinis, Kelly M. Stewart, Bo‐Hyun Kim, Juan Ausió, David R. Goodlett, Helena Pětrošová, Kyle D. Duncan, Julian J. Lum (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/PMC13636119.txt.
Description
Tian Zhao and colleagues published this 2026 study of how one amino acid steers cancer-fighting T cells. Methionine, a building block the body cannot make, is essential for T cell activation. Starving tumors of it can help some immune therapies, yet cell therapies, where T cells are grown and returned, might suffer. The team tested both brief and sustained methionine restriction in lab-grown T cells and a mouse therapy model.
Brief restriction made killer T cells produce more key attack signal. The effect ran through a drop in polyamines, small molecules cells build from methionine. Adding polyamines back erased the gain, and deleting the polyamine enzyme copied it. Real tumors told a harsher story. Cells treated briefly before transfer gained no advantage, and mice on a restricted diet grew tumors faster as donated cells slid into exhaustion. The authors advise enriching, not starving, the tumor setting.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Tian Zhao, Gillian A. Carleton, Sam Preshaw, Sarah MacPherson, Madison Shiyuk, Joseph Monaghan, Jun Han, Oro Uchenunu, Robert Rottapel, Ralph J. DeBerardinis, Kelly M. Stewart, Bo‐Hyun Kim, Juan Ausió, David R. Goodlett, Helena Pětrošová, Kyle D. Duncan, Julian J. Lum |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 65 KB |
| LICENSE | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |