The Interplay between Immunity and Metabolism Dictates Health and Disease

Apart from its traditional role in anti-infectious and anti-neoplastic defense, the immune system has been recently implicated in regulating systemic metabolic balance. Likewise, several metabolic processes were also engaged in the maintenance of immune homeostasis. Given the importance of this immune-metabolic alignment in promoting “metabolic health” and its fundamental role in endorsing appropriate adaptations to the ever changing environmental setup in a host, we highlight the current understanding of this immune-metabolic cross-talk and illustrate the role of the gut microbiota, diet and host genetic and epigenetic factors in this immune-endocrine communication, opening up to future avenues of research and promising therapeutic approaches to diverse metabolic and inflammatory disorders.