Monocyte immunometabolic reprogramming in human pregnancy: contribution of trophoblast cells

Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab. 2023 Dec 20. doi: 10.1152/ajpendo.00357.2023. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTImmunometabolism research is uncovering the relationship between metabolic features and immune cell functions in physiological and pathological conditions. Normal pregnancy entails a fine immune and metabolic regulation of the maternal-fetal interaction to assist the energetic demands of the fetus with immune homeostasis maintenance. Here, we determined the immunometabolic status of monocytes of pregnant women compared to non-pregnant controls and its impact on monocyte antiinflammatory functions such as efferocytosis. Monocytes from pregnant women (16-20 weeks) and non-pregnant age-matched controls were studied. Single cell-based metabolic assays using freshly isolated monocytes from both groups were carried out in parallel with functional assays ex vivo to evaluate monocyte efferocytic capacity. On the other hand, various in vitro metabolic assays with human monocytes or monocyte-derived macrophages were designed to explore the effect of trophoblast cells in the profiles observed. We found that pregnancy alters monocyte metabolism and function. An increased glucose dependency and enhanced efferocytosis were detected in monocytes from pregnant women at resting states, compared to non-pregnant controls. Furthermore, monocytes display a reduced glycolytic response when stimulated with LPS. The metabolic profiling of monocytes at this stage of pregnancy was comparable with...
Source: American Journal of Physiology. Endocrinology and Metabolism - Category: Physiology Authors: Source Type: research