Aging Leukocytes and the Inflammatory Microenvironment of the Adipose Tissue

Diabetes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 71 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-30
Author(s):  
Korbyn J.V. Dahlquist ◽  
Christina D. Camell

Age-related immunosenescence, defined as an increase in inflammaging and the decline of the immune system, leads to tissue dysfunction and increased risk for metabolic disease. The elderly population is expanding, leading to a heightened need for therapeutics to improve health span. With age, many alterations of the immune system are observed, including shifts in the tissue-resident immune cells, increased expression of inflammatory factors, and the accumulation of senescent cells, all of which are responsible for a chronic inflammatory loop. Adipose tissue and the immune cell activation within are of particular interest for their well-known roles in metabolic disease. Recent literature reveals that adipose tissue is an organ in which signs of initial aging occur, including immune cell activation. Aged adipose tissue reveals changes in many innate and adaptive immune cell subsets, revealing a complex interaction that contributes to inflammation, increased senescence, impaired catecholamine-induced lipolysis, and impaired insulin sensitivity. Here, we will describe current knowledge surrounding age-related changes in immune cells while relating those findings to recent discoveries regarding immune cells in aged adipose tissue.

2014 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel W. Trott ◽  
David G. Harrison

While hypertension has predominantly been attributed to perturbations of the vasculature, kidney, and central nervous system, research for almost 50 yr has shown that the immune system also contributes to this disease. Inflammatory cells accumulate in the kidneys and vasculature of humans and experimental animals with hypertension and likely contribute to end-organ damage. We and others have shown that mice lacking adaptive immune cells, including recombinase-activating gene-deficient mice and rats and mice with severe combined immunodeficiency have blunted hypertension to stimuli such as ANG II, high salt, and norepinephrine. Adoptive transfer of T cells restores the blood pressure response to these stimuli. Agonistic antibodies to the ANG II receptor, produced by B cells, contribute to hypertension in experimental models of preeclampsia. The central nervous system seems important in immune cell activation, because lesions in the anteroventral third ventricle block hypertension and T cell activation in response to ANG II. Likewise, genetic manipulation of reactive oxygen species in the subfornical organ modulates both hypertension and immune cell activation. Current evidence indicates that the production of cytokines, including tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin-17, and interleukin-6, contribute to hypertension, likely via effects on both the kidney and vasculature. In addition, the innate immune system also appears to contribute to hypertension. We propose a working hypothesis linking the sympathetic nervous system, immune cells, production of cytokines, and, ultimately, vascular and renal dysfunction, leading to the augmentation of hypertension. Studies of immune cell activation will clearly be useful in understanding this common yet complex disease.


1996 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 243-248 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary H Perdue

Many studies have provided evidence that the immune system is a key regulatory system of intestinal function. The interaction of immune cells with the gut epithelium plays an important role in host defence, acting to eliminate pathogens, antigens and other noxious material from the lumen of the gastrointestinal tract. During inflammatory conditions of the gut, the mucosa becomes packed with immune cells in close proximity to the enterocytes. Mediators released from these cells have profound effects on epithelial functions. The two main functions of the intestinal epithelium are to transport nutrients, ions and water, and to act as a barrier to prevent unimpeded uptake of antigenic material and microbes from the lumen. Both these functions are altered by immune reactions in response to various stimuli. Topics discussed include mast cells and epithelial function; mast cell-nerve interaction; mast cell activation; neutrophils, eosinophils and macrophages; T cells; and prostaglandins and immune cell activation.


1994 ◽  
Vol 267 (2) ◽  
pp. G151-G165 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. H. Perdue ◽  
D. M. McKay

Over the past ten years, it has become evident that intestinal epithelial functions such as ion secretion are a host defense response to the presence of antigens, microbes, and other noxious substances in the gut lumen. Such responses are mediated by the activation of immune cells in the mucosa causing release of chemical mediators that act directly or indirectly on the epithelium. Frequently, immune cell products stimulate enteric nerves resulting in amplification. Thus immune cells and nerves form interactive units that can recognize various stimuli both specifically and nonspecifically and initiate mechanisms to eliminate offending material. Here, we review the current state of knowledge regarding immune regulation of epithelial physiology with particular emphasis on the ability of immune cells and their products (biogenic amines, cytokines, arachidonic acid metabolites, oxidants) to alter electrolyte transport. The mast cell will be highlighted in this scheme as this cell has been, and continues to be, the focus of extensive research efforts. However, recently it has become apparent that cells such as lymphocytes, macrophages, and polymorphonuclear leukocytes also play important roles in immunophysiology. The effect of immune cell activation on epithelial functions other than transport, such as permeability, proliferation, and antigen presentation, will be described where appropriate. Finally, we will present evidence that the enterocyte can express an "activated" phenotype and thus participate directly in mucosal immune responses.


2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenny Lutshumba ◽  
Barbara S. Nikolajczyk ◽  
Adam D. Bachstetter

Neuroinflammation and the tissue-resident innate immune cells, the microglia, respond and contribute to neurodegenerative pathology. Although microglia have been the focus of work linking neuroinflammation and associated dementias like Alzheimer’s Disease, the inflammatory milieu of brain is a conglomerate of cross-talk amongst microglia, systemic immune cells and soluble mediators like cytokines. Age-related changes in the inflammatory profile at the levels of both the brain and periphery are largely orchestrated by immune system cells. Strong evidence indicates that both innate and adaptive immune cells, the latter including T cells and B cells, contribute to chronic neuroinflammation and thus dementia. Neurodegenerative hallmarks coupled with more traditional immune system stimuli like infection or injury likely combine to trigger and maintain persistent microglial and thus brain inflammation. This review summarizes age-related changes in immune cell function, with special emphasis on lymphocytes as a source of inflammation, and discusses how such changes may potentiate both systemic and central nervous system inflammation to culminate in dementia. We recap the understudied area of AD-associated changes in systemic lymphocytes in greater detail to provide a unifying perspective of inflammation-fueled dementia, with an eye toward evidence of two-way communication between the brain parenchyma and blood immune cells. We focused our review on human subjects studies, adding key data from animal models as relevant.


Endocrinology ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 151 (8) ◽  
pp. 3555-3565 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Jörns ◽  
Klaus Jan Rath ◽  
Taivankhuu Terbish ◽  
Tanja Arndt ◽  
Andreas Meyer zu Vilsendorf ◽  
...  

The prevention of diabetes by the immunomodulatory agent FTY720 (fingolimod) was studied in the LEW.1AR1-iddm (IDDM) rat, an animal model of human type 1 diabetes. Immune cell subtypes and cytokine profiles in pancreatic islets, secondary lymphoid tissue, and serum were analyzed for signs of immune cell activation. Animals were treated with FTY720 (1 mg/kg body weight) for 40 d starting on d 50 of life. Changes in gene and protein expression of cytokines, CD8 markers, monocyte chemoattractant protein-1, inducible NO synthase, and caspase 3 were evaluated. Treatment with FTY720 prevented diabetes manifestation and islet infiltration around d 60 of life, the usual time of spontaneous diabetes development. On d 120, 30 d after the end of FTY720 therapy, diabetes prevention persisted. However, six of 12 treated animals showed increased gene expression of IL-1β, TNF-α, and CD8 markers in pancreas-draining lymph nodes, indicating immune cell activation. In parallel, serum concentrations of these proinflammatory cytokines were increased. These six animals also showed macrophage infiltration without proinflammatory cytokine expression in a small minority (2–3%) of islets. Interestingly, regulatory T lymphocytes were significantly increased in the efferent vessels of the pancreas-draining lymph nodes only in animals without signs of immune cell activation but not in the rats with immune cell activation. This provides an indication for a lack of protective capacity in the animals with activated immune cells. Thus, FTY720 treatment prevented the manifestation of diabetes by promoting the retention of activated immune cells in the lymph nodes, thereby avoiding islet infiltration and β-cell destruction by proinflammatory cytokines.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (S1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaomin Zhang ◽  
Fabian Zink ◽  
Felix Hezel ◽  
Josef Vogt ◽  
Ulrich Wachter ◽  
...  

AbstractImmune cell activation leads to the acquisition of new functions, such as proliferation, chemotaxis, and cytokine production. These functional changes require continuous metabolic adaption in order to sustain ATP homeostasis for sufficient host defense. The bioenergetic demands are usually met by the interconnected metabolic pathways glycolysis, TCA cycle, and oxidative phosphorylation. Apart from glucose, other sources, such as fatty acids and glutamine, are able to fuel the TCA cycle.Rising evidence has shown that cellular metabolism has a direct effect on the regulation of immune cell functions. Thus, quiescent immune cells maintain a basal metabolic state, which shifts to an accelerated metabolic level upon immune cell activation in order to promote key effector functions.This review article summarizes distinct metabolic signatures of key immune cell subsets from quiescence to activation and demonstrates a methodical concept of how to assess cellular metabolic pathways. It further discusses why metabolic functions are of rising interest for translational research and how they can be affected by the underlying pathophysiological condition and/or therapeutic interventions.


2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (7) ◽  
pp. 435-446 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michio Miyajima

Abstract Immune-cell activation and functional plasticity are closely linked to metabolic reprogramming that is required to supply the energy and substrates for such dynamic transformations. During such processes, immune cells metabolize many kinds of molecules including nucleic acids, sugars and lipids, which is called immunometabolism. This review will mainly focus on amino acids and their derivatives among such metabolites and describe the functions of these molecules in the immune system. Although amino acids are essential for, and well known as, substrates for protein synthesis, they are also metabolized as energy sources and as substrates for functional catabolites. For example, glutamine is metabolized to produce energy through glutaminolysis and tryptophan is consumed to supply nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, whereas arginine is metabolized to produce nitric acid and polyamine by nitric oxide synthase and arginase, respectively. In addition, serine is catabolized to produce nucleotides and to induce methylation reactions. Furthermore, in addition to their intracellular functions, amino acids and their derivatives are secreted and have extracellular functions as immunotransmitters. Many amino acids and their derivatives have been classified as neurotransmitters and their functions are clear as transmitters between nerve cells, or between nerve cells and immune cells, functioning as immunotransmitters. Thus, this review will describe the intracellular and external functions of amino acid from the perspective of immunometabolism and immunotransmission.


F1000Research ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clovis S. Palmer ◽  
Riya Palchaudhuri ◽  
Hassan Albargy ◽  
Mohamed Abdel-Mohsen ◽  
Suzanne M. Crowe

An emerging paradigm in immunology suggests that metabolic reprogramming and immune cell activation and functions are intricately linked. Viral infections, such as HIV infection, as well as cancer force immune cells to undergo major metabolic challenges. Cells must divert energy resources in order to mount an effective immune response. However, the fact that immune cells adopt specific metabolic programs to provide host defense against intracellular pathogens and how this metabolic shift impacts immune cell functions and the natural course of diseases have only recently been appreciated. A clearer insight into how these processes are inter-related will affect our understanding of several fundamental aspects of HIV persistence. Even in patients with long-term use of anti-retroviral therapies, HIV infection persists and continues to cause chronic immune activation and inflammation, ongoing and cumulative damage to multiple organs systems, and a reduction in life expectancy. HIV-associated fundamental changes to the metabolic machinery of the immune system can promote a state of “inflammaging”, a chronic, low-grade inflammation with specific immune changes that characterize aging, and can also contribute to the persistence of HIV in its reservoirs. In this commentary, we will bring into focus evolving concepts on how HIV modulates the metabolic machinery of immune cells in order to persist in reservoirs and how metabolic reprogramming facilitates a chronic state of inflammation that underlies the development of age-related comorbidities. We will discuss how immunometabolism is facilitating the changing paradigms in HIV cure research and outline the novel therapeutic opportunities for preventing inflammaging and premature development of age-related conditions in HIV+individuals.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jasmin Felux ◽  
Annika Erbacher ◽  
Magali Breckler ◽  
Roxane Hervé ◽  
Delphine Lemeiter ◽  
...  

Increased concentrations of circulating chromatin, especially oligo-nucleosomes, are observed in sepsis, cancer and some inflammatory autoimmune diseases like systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). In SLE, circulating nucleosomes mainly result from increased apoptosis and decreased clearance of apoptotic cells. Once released, nucleosomes behave both as an autoantigen and as a damage-associated molecular pattern (DAMP) by activating several immune cells, especially pro-inflammatory cells. Deoxyribonuclease 1 (DNase1) is a major serum nuclease whose activity is decreased in mouse and human lupus. Likewise, the mitochondrial chaperone tumor necrosis factor (TNF) receptor-associated protein-1 (Trap1) protects against oxidative stress, which is increased in SLE. Here, using wild type, DNase1-deficient and DNase1/Trap1-deficient mice, we demonstrate that DNase1 is a major serum nuclease involved in chromatin degradation, especially when the plasminogen system is activated. In vitro degradation assays show that chromatin digestion is strongly impaired in serum from DNase1/Trap1-deficient mice as compared to wild type mice. In vivo, after injection of purified chromatin, clearance of circulating chromatin is delayed in DNase1/Trap1-deficient mice in comparison to wild type mice. Since defective chromatin clearance may lead to chromatin deposition in tissues and subsequent immune cell activation, spleen cells were stimulated in vitro with chromatin. Splenocytes were activated by chromatin, as shown by interleukin (IL)-12 secretion and CD69 up-regulation. Moreover, cell activation was exacerbated when Trap1 is deficient. Importantly, we also show that cytokines involved in lupus pathogenesis down-regulate Trap1 expression in splenocytes. Therefore, combined low activities of both DNase1 and Trap1 lead to an impaired degradation of chromatin in vitro, delayed chromatin clearance in vivo and enhanced activation of immune cells. This situation may be encountered especially, but not exclusively, in SLE by the negative action of cytokines on Trap1 expression.


Author(s):  
Taylor R. Jay ◽  
Shane M. Bemiller ◽  
Lee E. Neilson ◽  
Paul J. Cheng-Hathaway ◽  
Bruce T. Lamb

Neuroinflammation has long been associated with many neurodegenerative diseases (NDDs). Immune-related genetic and environmental risk factors have recently been identified for NDDs, suggesting that neuroinflammation can play an active role in modifying NDD pathologies. Immune cells that underlie this neuroinflammatory response can have both beneficial and detrimental roles in NDDs. These cells can engage in clearance of debris and provide important survival factors to neighboring neurons. However, these cells can also release inflammatory molecules that promote oxidative stress and excitotoxic damage in surrounding neurons, and aberrantly clear healthy cells and structures from the brain. In turn, the cells within the brain play important roles in determining the phenotype and function of these immune cells, and changes in the interaction among these cells in the context of disease can lead to detrimental immune cell activation. There has been recent interest in developing inflammation-related biomarkers to help diagnose NDDs and immune-targeted therapeutics.


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