{"id":62121,"date":"2026-04-20T19:23:25","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T17:23:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/2026\/04\/20\/pim1-kinase-regulated-cellular-metabolism-sustains-differentiation-and-function-of-effector-cd8-t-cells-during-chronic-viral-infection\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T19:23:25","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T17:23:25","slug":"pim1-kinase-regulated-cellular-metabolism-sustains-differentiation-and-function-of-effector-cd8-t-cells-during-chronic-viral-infection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/2026\/04\/20\/pim1-kinase-regulated-cellular-metabolism-sustains-differentiation-and-function-of-effector-cd8-t-cells-during-chronic-viral-infection\/","title":{"rendered":"PIM1 kinase-regulated cellular metabolism sustains differentiation and function of effector CD8+ T cells during chronic viral infection"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><b>J Immunol<\/b>. 2026 Apr 15;215(4):vkag062. doi: 10.1093\/jimmun\/vkag062.<\/p>\n<p><b>ABSTRACT<\/b><\/p>\n<p>CD8+ T-cell differentiation during chronic viral infection is supported by metabolic reprogramming to meet distinct bioenergetic demands. Early effector CD8+ T-cell differentiation and function are supported by the PI3K-Akt-mTOR pathway, while the differentiation of late exhausted CD8+ T cells remains incompletely understood. We first characterized the metabolic heterogeneity of the progenitor, effector, and exhausted CD8+ T-cell subsets in chronic infection by utilizing the Compass algorithm, which provides metabolic state predictions based on single-cell RNA sequencing data and flux-based analysis. Our analysis revealed metabolic programs distinct to each subset of virus-specific CD8+ T cells. In addition, it is known that the differentiation of progenitor to effector CD8+ T cells depends on IL-21-producing CD4+ T cells. We found that PIM1 kinase, a known regulator of cellular energy metabolism that functions downstream of IL-21 signaling, displays high gene expression in the effector CD8 T-cell subset. Using the lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus clone 13 model of chronic viral infection, we showed that CD8+ T cell-specific deletion of PIM1 kinase impairs the differentiation and cytolytic function of late effector CD8+ T cells. Furthermore, deficiency in PIM1 kinase reduced oxidative and glycolytic metabolism, potentially contributing to the diminished effector differentiation and function. Overall, these data reveal not only the metabolic heterogeneity of exhausted CD8+ T cells, but also how metabolic regulation through the IL-21-PIM1 axis impacts CD8+ T-cell differentiation.<\/p>\n<p>PMID:<a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/42001517\/?utm_source=SimplePie&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_content=2985117R&amp;ff=20260420132324&amp;v=2.19.0.post6+133c1fe\">42001517<\/a> | DOI:<a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1093\/jimmun\/vkag062\">10.1093\/jimmun\/vkag062<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>J Immunol. 2026 Apr 15;215(4):vkag062. doi: 10.1093\/jimmun\/vkag062. ABSTRACT CD8+ T-cell differentiation during chronic viral infection is supported by metabolic reprogramming to meet distinct bioenergetic demands. Early effector CD8+ T-cell differentiation and function are supported by the PI3K-Akt-mTOR pathway, while the differentiation of late exhausted CD8+ T cells remains incompletely understood. We first characterized the metabolic &#8230; <a title=\"PIM1 kinase-regulated cellular metabolism sustains differentiation and function of effector CD8+ T cells during chronic viral infection\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/2026\/04\/20\/pim1-kinase-regulated-cellular-metabolism-sustains-differentiation-and-function-of-effector-cd8-t-cells-during-chronic-viral-infection\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about PIM1 kinase-regulated cellular metabolism sustains differentiation and function of effector CD8+ T cells during chronic viral infection\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42,71],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-62121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-publicaciones","category-the-journal-of-immunology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62121"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62121\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}