Exploration of Immunology

Table 1. Oncogene and metabolite effects in the tumor microenvironment

Category	Molecule	Effect	Reference
Oncogenes	HIF-1α	Upregulates glycolysis Promotes M2 polarization via lactate Suppresses CD8⁺ T cells	[12–14]
	Myc	Enhances glutaminolysis and glycolysis Drives immune evasion by lactate and PD-L1 upregulation	[19, 20]
	NF-ĸB	Induces IL-10 and TGF-β secretion, inducing M2 polarization	[22, 34]
	Nrf2	Antioxidant response suppresses ROS Sustains immunosuppression	[12, 13]
Metabolite	Lactate	Activates GPR132 inducing M2 polarization Inhibits NK and CD8⁺ T cells	[43, 53]
	L-arginine	Impairs T cell function (anergy)	[46, 48]
	Tryptophan (kynurenine)	Expands T reg population through AhR activation	[42, 55]
	Glutamine	Promotes T cell exhaustion	[13, 42]

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HIF-1α: hypoxia-inducible factor 1 alpha; PD-L1: programmed death ligand 1; NF-ĸB: nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells; IL-10: interleukin-10; TGF-β: transforming growth factor β; Nrf2: nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2; ROS: reactive oxygen species; GPR132: G protein-coupled receptor 132; NK: natural killer; AhR: aryl hydrocarbon receptor

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Author contributions

JDMO: Conceptualization, Investigation, Writing—original draft, Writing—review & editing, Visualization. MÁPV: Writing—review & editing, Visualization. NEHG: Conceptualization, Supervision, Validation, Writing—review & editing, Project administration. All authors read and approved the submitted version.

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The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

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