Site-Specific Reprogramming of Macrophage Responsiveness to Bacterial Lipopolysaccharide in Obesity

The mechanisms by which obesity may alter immune responses to pathogens are poorly understood. The present study assessed whether the intrinsic responsiveness of resident macrophages to bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is reprogrammed in high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obesity. Macrophages from adipose tissue, lung alveoli, and the peritoneal cavity were extracted from obese rats on a HFD or from their lean counterparts, and subsequently studied in culture under identical conditions. CD45(+)/CD68(+) cells (macrophages) were abundant in all cultures, and became the main producers of TNF-α upon LPS stimulation. But although all macrophage subpopulations responded to LPS with an M1-like profile of cytokine secretion, the TNF-α/IL-10 ratio was the lowest in adipose tissue macrophages, the highest in alveolar macrophages, and intermediary in peritoneal macrophages. What is more, diet exerted qualitatively distinct effects on the cytokine responses to LPS, with obesity switching adipose tissue macrophages to a more pro-inflammatory program and peritoneal macrophages to a less pro-inflammatory program, while not affecting alveolar macrophages. Such reprogramming was not associated with changes in the inflammasome-dependent secretion of IL-1β. The study further shows that the effects of diet on TNF-α/IL-10 ratios were linked to distinct patterns of NF-κB accumulation in the nucleus: while RelA was the NF-κB subunit most impacted by obesity in adipose tissue macrophages, cRel was the subunit affected in peritoneal macrophages. It is concluded that obesity causes dissimilar, site-specific changes in the responsiveness of resident macrophages to bacterial LPS. Such plasticity opens new avenues of investigation into the mechanisms linking obesity to pathogen-induced immune responses.