Trained innate immunity, long-lasting epigenetic modulation, and skewed myelopoiesis by heme

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Elisa Jentho - , Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência (Author)
  • Cristian Ruiz-Moreno - , Princess Máxima Center for Pediatric Oncology, Radboud University Nijmegen (Author)
  • Boris Novakovic - , Radboud University Nijmegen, University of Melbourne (Author)
  • Ioannis Kourtzelis - , TUD Dresden University of Technology, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), University of York (Author)
  • Wout L. Megchelenbrink - , Princess Máxima Center for Pediatric Oncology, University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli (Author)
  • Rui Martins - , Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência (Author)
  • Triantafyllos Chavakis - , Institute of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (Author)
  • Miguel P. Soares - , Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência (Author)
  • Lydia Kalafati - , Institute of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) (Author)
  • Joel Guerra - , Friedrich Schiller University Jena (Author)
  • Franziska Roestel - , Friedrich Schiller University Jena (Author)
  • Peter Bohm - , Friedrich Schiller University Jena (Author)
  • Maren Godmann - , Friedrich Schiller University Jena (Author)
  • Tatyana Grinenko - , Institute of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (Author)
  • Anne Eugster - , Chair of Preclinical stem cell therapy and diabetes (Author)
  • Martina Beretta - , Friedrich Schiller University Jena, University of New South Wales (Author)
  • Leo A.B. Joosten - , Radboud University Nijmegen (Author)
  • Mihai G. Netea - , Radboud University Nijmegen, University of Bonn (Author)
  • Michael Bauer - , Friedrich Schiller University Jena (Author)
  • Hendrik G. Stunnenberg - , Princess Máxima Center for Pediatric Oncology, Radboud University Nijmegen (Author)
  • Sebastian Weis - , Friedrich Schiller University Jena (Author)

Abstract

Trained immunity defines long-lasting adaptations of innate immunity based on transcriptional and epigenetic modifications of myeloid cells and their bone marrow progenitors [M. Divangahi et al., Nat. Immunol. 22, 2–6 (2021)]. Innate immune cells, however, do not exclusively differentiate between foreign and self but also react to host-derived molecules referred to as alarmins. Extracellular “labile” heme, released during infections, is a bona fide alarmin promoting myeloid cell activation [M. P. Soares, M. T. Bozza, Curr. Opin. Immunol. 38, 94–100 (2016)]. Here, we report that labile heme is a previously unrecognized inducer of trained immunity that confers long-term regulation of lineage specification of hematopoietic stem cells and progenitor cells. In contrast to previous reports on trained immunity, essentially mediated by pathogen-associated molecular patterns, heme training depends on spleen tyrosine kinase signal transduction pathway acting upstream of c-Jun N-terminal kinases. Heme training promotes resistance to sepsis, is associated with the expansion of self-renewing hematopoetic stem cells primed toward myelopoiesis and to the occurrence of a specific myeloid cell population. This is potentially evoked by sustained activity of Nfix, Runx1, and Nfe2l2 and dissociation of the transcriptional repressor Bach2. Previously reported trained immunity inducers are, however, infrequently present in the host, whereas heme abundantly occurs during noninfectious and infectious disease. This difference might explain the vanishing protection exerted by heme training in sepsis over time with sustained long-term myeloid adaptations. Hence, we propose that trained immunity is an integral component of innate immunity with distinct functional differences on infectious disease outcome depending on its induction by pathogenic or endogenous molecules.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere2102698118
JournalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Volume118
Issue number42
Publication statusPublished - 19 Oct 2021
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

PubMed 34663697

Keywords

Sustainable Development Goals

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Keywords

  • Heme, Myelopoiesis, Sepsis, Single-nuclei analysis, Trained innate immunity

Library keywords