Glucose Metabolism and Innate Immune Responses in Influenza Virus Infection: Mechanistic Insights and Clinical Perspectives

This review article discusses glucose metabolic alterations affecting immune cell responses to influenza virus infection. It highlights possible relationships between essential metabolic targets and influenza replication dynamics in immune cells. Thus, kinases as essential regulators of glucose metabolism as well as critical immune mediators during this infection such as interferons, tumor necrosis factor-alpha and transforming growth factor beta have been illustrated. Mechanistic highlights are provided for both the Warburg effect, where glycolysis shifts to lactate production during influenza infection, and the PFK1/PFKFB3 enzyme complex as the rate-determining regulator of glycolysis whose activity increases during the course of influenza infection. The mechanisms of mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling as a promotor of glycolysis and a regulator of inflammatory cytokine production are discussed across various immune cell types during infection. We conclude that modulation of the metabolic changes associated with immune responses plays an important role in disease progression, and that targeting metabolic checkpoints or kinases may offer promising avenues for future immunotherapy approaches for the treatment of influenza virus infection. We also emphasize the need for further research to develop a comprehensive biological model that clarifies host outcomes and the complex nature of immune-metabolic regulation and crosstalk.