Rewiring monocyte glucose metabolism via C-type lectin signaling protects against disseminated candidiasis

PLoS Pathog. 2017 Sep 18;13(9):e1006632. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1006632. eCollection 2017 Sep.

Abstract

Monocytes are innate immune cells that play a pivotal role in antifungal immunity, but little is known regarding the cellular metabolic events that regulate their function during infection. Using complementary transcriptomic and immunological studies in human primary monocytes, we show that activation of monocytes by Candida albicans yeast and hyphae was accompanied by metabolic rewiring induced through C-type lectin-signaling pathways. We describe that the innate immune responses against Candida yeast are energy-demanding processes that lead to the mobilization of intracellular metabolite pools and require induction of glucose metabolism, oxidative phosphorylation and glutaminolysis, while responses to hyphae primarily rely on glycolysis. Experimental models of systemic candidiasis models validated a central role for glucose metabolism in anti-Candida immunity, as the impairment of glycolysis led to increased susceptibility in mice. Collectively, these data highlight the importance of understanding the complex network of metabolic responses triggered during infections, and unveil new potential targets for therapeutic approaches against fungal diseases.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Candidiasis / metabolism*
  • Glucose / metabolism*
  • Glycolysis / drug effects
  • Humans
  • Immunity, Innate / immunology*
  • Lectins, C-Type / metabolism*
  • Mice
  • Monocytes / metabolism*
  • Signal Transduction*

Substances

  • Lectins, C-Type
  • Glucose

Supplementary concepts

  • Systemic candidiasis

Grants and funding

MGN is supported by an ERC Consolidator grant (ERC-310372) (https://erc.europa.eu/), a Spinoza grant of the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (http://www.nwo.nl/en.), and a Competitiveness Operational Programme Grant from the Romanian Ministry of European Funds (FUSE). CA is supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (Grants SAF 2012-35670 and SAF2015-69905) (http://www.mineco.gob.es/). JDA is supported by a La Caixa Foundation PhD Fellowship (https://obrasociallacaixa.org/). SPS was financially supported by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (Grant STW13546) (http://www.stw.nl/en/). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.