TNF-α Signals through ITK-Akt-mTOR to Drive CD4⁺ T Cell Metabolic Reprogramming, Which Is Dysregulated in Rheumatoid Arthritis

Researchers investigated whether inflammatory cytokines released by differentiating T cells amplified their metabolic changes. They found that tumor necrosis factor–α (TNF-α) released by human naïve CD4+ T cells upon activation stimulated the expression of a metabolic transcriptome.