PKM2-dependent glycolysis promotes NLRP3 and AIM2 inflammasome activation

Min Xie, Yan Yu, Rui Kang, Shan Zhu, Liangchun Yang, Ling Zeng, Xiaofang Sun, Minghua Yang, Timothy R. Billiar, Haichao Wang, Lizhi Cao (), Jianxin Jiang () and Daolin Tang ()
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Min Xie: Xiangya Hospital, Central South University
Yan Yu: Xiangya Hospital, Central South University
Rui Kang: University of Pittsburgh
Shan Zhu: Center of DAMP Biology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University
Liangchun Yang: Xiangya Hospital, Central South University
Ling Zeng: University of Pittsburgh
Xiaofang Sun: Center of DAMP Biology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University
Minghua Yang: Xiangya Hospital, Central South University
Timothy R. Billiar: University of Pittsburgh
Haichao Wang: Laboratory of Emergency Medicine, The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research
Lizhi Cao: Xiangya Hospital, Central South University
Jianxin Jiang: State Key Laboratory of Trauma, Burns and Combined Injury, Research Institute of Surgery, Research institute for Traffic Medicine of People’s Liberation Army, Daping Hospital, Third Military Medical University
Daolin Tang: University of Pittsburgh

Nature Communications, 2016, vol. 7, issue 1, 1-13

Abstract: Abstract Sepsis, severe sepsis and septic shock are the main cause of mortality in non-cardiac intensive care units. Immunometabolism has been linked to sepsis; however, the precise mechanism by which metabolic reprogramming regulates the inflammatory response is unclear. Here we show that aerobic glycolysis contributes to sepsis by modulating inflammasome activation in macrophages. PKM2-mediated glycolysis promotes inflammasome activation by modulating EIF2AK2 phosphorylation in macrophages. Pharmacological and genetic inhibition of PKM2 or EIF2AK2 attenuates NLRP3 and AIM2 inflammasomes activation, and consequently suppresses the release of IL-1β, IL-18 and HMGB1 by macrophages. Pharmacological inhibition of the PKM2–EIF2AK2 pathway protects mice from lethal endotoxemia and polymicrobial sepsis. Moreover, conditional knockout of PKM2 in myeloid cells protects mice from septic death induced by NLRP3 and AIM2 inflammasome activation. These findings define an important role of PKM2 in immunometabolism and guide future development of therapeutic strategies to treat sepsis.

Date: 2016
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms13280

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