Skip to main content

Fatty acid desaturation and lipoxygenase pathways support trained immunity.

Nature communications

Authors: Anaísa V Ferreira, Juan Carlos Alarcon-Barrera, Jorge Domínguez-Andrés, Özlem Bulut, Gizem Kilic, Priya A Debisarun, Rutger J Röring, Hatice N Özhan, Eva Terschlüsen, Athanasios Ziogas, Sarantos Kostidis, Yassene Mohammed, Vasiliki Matzaraki, George Renieris, Evangelos J Giamarellos-Bourboulis, Mihai G Netea, Martin Giera

Infections and vaccines can induce enhanced long-term responses in innate immune cells, establishing an innate immunological memory termed trained immunity. Here, we show that monocytes with a trained immunity phenotype, due to exposure to the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine, are characterized by an increased biosynthesis of different lipid mediators (LM) derived from long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA). Pharmacological and genetic approaches show that long-chain PUFA synthesis and lipoxygenase-derived LM are essential for the BCG-induced trained immunity responses of human monocytes. Furthermore, products of 12-lipoxygenase activity increase in monocytes of healthy individuals after BCG vaccination. Grasping the underscoring lipid metabolic pathways contributes to our understanding of trained immunity and may help to identify therapeutic tools and targets for the modulation of innate immune responses.

© 2023. The Author(s).

PMID: 37968313

Participating cluster members