Introduction: Periodontitis in patients with diabetes mellitus results
in chronic inflammation, which is the central issue in developing an
efficient and consistent treatment plan. Dendritic cells (DC) are
antigen presenting cells that initiate the immune inflammatory responses
and contribute to the pathogenesis of both diseases. In this study, we
investigated the impact of hyperglycemic microenvironment on DC
immunometabolism, the cell phenotypes and immunogenic functions.
Methodology: Human monocyte differentiated DC and mice bone marrow
derived DC were cultured in the presence of 5.5-, 11-, and 25- mM
glucose to simulate diabetic microenvironment. Cells were activated with
advanced-glycation-end product (AGE) and lipopolysaccharides (LPS) from
Porphyromanas gingivalis for 24 hours and processed for
transcription, metabolic and microscopic analysis. Expression of
activation markers (CD80, CD83, CD86, HLA-DR) and proteins involved in
glycolysis (HK2, LDHA, GLUT1) in DC were calculated by qRT-PCR. Lactic
acid production and OXPHOS assays, including Seahorse metabolic flux
analyzer were utilized to determine the effects on metabolism. Impact on
the phagocytic capacity was analyzed using fluorescent microspheres
uptake. Cytokine expressions for tumor necrosis factor alpha [TNF- α
], interleukin [IL]-1 β , IL-6, IL-10, and Interferon gamma
[IFN- γ ] were evaluated in cell supernatants from DC and DC-T cell
coculture. Results: Under simulated hyperglycemic microenvironment an
increase in cell dendrite extensions, and activation markers were
upregulated in both monocytes differentiated DC and BMDC. There was a
significant increase in glycolysis as evident from the gene expression,
cell metabolic flux, and lactic acid production. Cell OXPHOS activities
was reduced to compensate for the increase in glycolysis.
Pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNF- α and IL-1 β ) were significantly
increased and this increase was directly proportional to the glucose
concentrations. Whereas, phagocytic capability of DC, and their ability
to activate T cells decreased with hyperglycemia. Conclusions:
Hyperglycemic microenvironment resulted in DC changes with increased
expressions of activation markers, glycolytic metabolism, and increased
pro-inflammatory cytokines, while impairing phagocytosis and adaptive
immunity induction. BMDC and human monocyte differentiated-DC exhibit
similar responses toward hyperglycemia, AGE, and LPS. This work
emphasizes that diabetes mellitus has an inflammatory impact on DC
immunometabolism and immunogenic functions.