Mechanisms of trained immunity induced by Western diet

抄録

Atherosclerosis is an inflammatory disease of the large vessels that can be triggered by Western type diets. The mechanisms by which Western diets induce systemic and local inflammation are not well understood. Recently, it has been discovered that mammalian innate immune cells display adaptive characteristics that are based on epigenetic reprogramming after exposure to certain stimuli. It has further been shown re-exposure to inflammatory stimuli can result in altered cellular responses, a phenomenon which has been termed trained innate immunity. Trained innate immunity likely evolved as an ancient mechanism to protect against pathogens as it confers nonspecific protection from secondary infections. However, dysregulated processes of immunological imprinting mediated by trained innate immunity may also contribute to the exaggerated immune responses in inflammatory diseases, such as atherosclerosis. We have studied the effect of Western diet on transcriptional and epigenetic reprogramming of various types of myeloid cells and discovered that Western diets can indeed reprogram myeloid cells leading to altered cell function.