Cysteine’s metabolic fork: Sulfur partitioning shapes T cell function

Melanie Grusdat; Dirk Brenner

doi:10.1016/j.cell.2026.05.011

Cysteine’s metabolic fork: Sulfur partitioning shapes T cell function

Melanie Grusdat
, Dirk Brenner^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Experimental and Molecular Immunology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Comment/debate

Abstract

T cells live or die by their metabolism, yet one nutrient can serve very different ends. In this issue of Cell , Kelly et al. show that cysteine’s sulfur is partitioned between glutathione and iron-sulfur cluster synthesis. This routing drives CD8⁺ T cell proliferation, effector function, and anti-tumor immunity.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	3506-3508
Number of pages	3
Journal	Cell
Volume	189
Issue number	12
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2026.05.011
Publication status	Published - 11 Jun 2026

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@article{4292c35d8be94904837196bc7021caa8,

title = "Cysteine{\textquoteright}s metabolic fork: Sulfur partitioning shapes T cell function",

abstract = "T cells live or die by their metabolism, yet one nutrient can serve very different ends. In this issue of Cell , Kelly et al. show that cysteine{\textquoteright}s sulfur is partitioned between glutathione and iron-sulfur cluster synthesis. This routing drives CD8+ T cell proliferation, effector function, and anti-tumor immunity.",

author = "Melanie Grusdat and Dirk Brenner",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2026 Elsevier Inc.",

year = "2026",

month = jun,

day = "11",

doi = "10.1016/j.cell.2026.05.011",

language = "English",

volume = "189",

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journal = "Cell",

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number = "12",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Cysteine’s metabolic fork

T2 - Sulfur partitioning shapes T cell function

AU - Grusdat, Melanie

AU - Brenner, Dirk

PY - 2026/6/11

Y1 - 2026/6/11

N2 - T cells live or die by their metabolism, yet one nutrient can serve very different ends. In this issue of Cell , Kelly et al. show that cysteine’s sulfur is partitioned between glutathione and iron-sulfur cluster synthesis. This routing drives CD8+ T cell proliferation, effector function, and anti-tumor immunity.

AB - T cells live or die by their metabolism, yet one nutrient can serve very different ends. In this issue of Cell , Kelly et al. show that cysteine’s sulfur is partitioned between glutathione and iron-sulfur cluster synthesis. This routing drives CD8+ T cell proliferation, effector function, and anti-tumor immunity.

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105041159520

UR - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42276031/

U2 - 10.1016/j.cell.2026.05.011

DO - 10.1016/j.cell.2026.05.011

M3 - Comment/debate

AN - SCOPUS:105041159520

SN - 0092-8674

VL - 189

SP - 3506

EP - 3508

JO - Cell

JF - Cell

IS - 12

ER -

Cysteine’s metabolic fork: Sulfur partitioning shapes T cell function

Abstract

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