Spermidine activates mitochondrial trifunctional protein and improves antitumor immunity in mice

Spermidine (SPD) delays age-related pathologies in various organisms. SPD supplementation overcame the impaired immunotherapy against tumors in aged mice by increasing mitochondrial function and activating CD8⁺ T cells. Treatment of naïve CD8⁺ T cells with SPD acutely enhanced fatty acid oxidation. SPD conjugated to beads bound to the mitochondrial trifunctional protein (MTP). In the MTP complex, synthesized and purified from <i>Escherichia coli</i>, SPD bound to the α and β subunits of MTP with strong affinity and allosterically enhanced their enzymatic activities. T cell-specific deletion of the MTP α subunit abolished enhancement of programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) blockade immunotherapy by SPD, indicating that MTP is required for SPD-dependent T cell activation.