The function and mechanism of lactate and lactylation in tumor metabolism and microenvironment

Lactate is an end product of glycolysis. Owing to the lactate shuttle concept intro-duced in the early 1980s, increasing researchers indicate lactate as a critical energy source for mitochondrial respiration and as a precursor of gluconeogenesis. Lactate also acts as a multi-functional signaling molecule through receptors expressed in various cells, resulting in diverse biological consequences including decreased lipolysis, immune regulation, and anti -inflamma-tion wound healing, and enhanced exercise performance in association with the gut micro -biome. Furthermore, increasing evidence reveals that lactate contributes to epigenetic gene regulation by lactylating lysine residues of histones, which accounts for its key role in immune modulation and maintenance of homeostasis. Here, we summarize the function and mecha-nism of lactate and lactylation in tumor metabolism and microenvironment.& COPY; 2022 The Authors. Publishing services by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of KeAi Communications Co., Ltd.This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons. org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).