Abstract
Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) represent key contributors to tissue homeostasis and promising therapeutics for hyperinflammatory conditions including graft-versus-host disease. Their immunomodulatory effects are controlled by microenvironmental signals. The MSCs’ functional response towards inflammatory cues is known as MSC-“licensing” and includes indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) upregulation. MSCs use tryptophan-depleting IDO to suppress T-cells. Increasing evidence suggests that several functions are (co-)determined by the cells’ metabolic commitment. MSCs are capable of both, high levels of glycolysis and of oxidative phosphorylation. Although several studies have addressed alterations of the immune regulatory phenotype elicited by inflammatory priming metabolic mechanisms controlling this process remain unknown. We demonstrate that inflammatory MSC-licensing causes metabolic shifts including enhanced glycolysis and increased fatty acid oxidation. Yet, only interfering with glycolysis impacts IDO upregulation and impedes T-cell-suppressivity. We identified the Janus kinase (JAK)/signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT)1 pathway as a regulator of both glycolysis and IDO, and show that enhanced glucose turnover is linked to abundant STAT1 glycosylation. Inhibiting the responsible O-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc) transferase abolishes STAT1 activity together with IDO upregulation. Our data suggest that STAT1-O-GlcNAcylation increases its stability towards degradation thus sustaining downstream effects. This pathway could represent a target for interventions aiming to enhance the MSCs’ immunoregulatory potency.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$259.00 per year
only $21.58 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bernardo ME, Fibbe WE. Mesenchymal stromal cells: sensors and switchers of inflammation. Cell Stem Cell. 2013;13:392–402.
Shi Y, Du L, Lin L, Wang Y. Tumour-associated mesenchymal stem/stromal cells: emerging therapeutic targets. Nat Rev Drug Discov. 2017;16:35–52.
Galipeau J, Sensebe L. Mesenchymal stromal cells: clinical challenges and therapeutic opportunities. Cell Stem Cell. 2018;22:824–33.
Le Blanc K, Frassoni F, Ball L, Locatelli F, Roelofs H, Lewis I, et al. Mesenchymal stem cells for treatment of steroid-resistant, severe, acute graft-versus-host disease: a phase II study. Lancet. 2008;371:1579–86.
Hashmi S, Ahmed M, Murad MH, Litzow MR, Adams RH, Ball LM, et al. Survival after mesenchymal stromal cell therapy in steroid-refractory acute graft-versus-host disease: systematic review and meta-analysis. Lancet Haematol. 2016;3:e45–52.
Le Blanc K, Mougiakakos D. Multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells and the innate immune system. Nat Rev Immunol. 2012;12:383–96.
Uccelli A, Moretta L, Pistoia V. Mesenchymal stem cells in health and disease. Nat Rev Immunol. 2008;8:726–36.
Krampera M. Mesenchymal stromal cell ‘licensing’: a multistep process. Leukemia. 2011;25:1408–14.
Mounayar M, Kefaloyianni E, Smith B, Solhjou Z, Maarouf OH, Azzi J, et al. PI3kalpha and STAT1 interplay regulates human mesenchymal stem cell immune polarization. Stem Cells. 2015;33:1892–901.
Munn DH, Mellor AL. IDO in the tumor microenvironment: inflammation, counter-regulation, and tolerance. Trends Immunol. 2016;37:193–207.
Kim DS, Jang IK, Lee MW, Ko YJ, Lee DH, Lee JW, et al. Enhanced immunosuppressive properties of human mesenchymal stem cells primed by interferon-gamma. EBioMedicine. 2018;28:261–73.
O’Neill LA, Kishton RJ, Rathmell J. A guide to immunometabolism for immunologists. Nat Rev Immunol. 2016;16:553–65.
Ito K, Suda T. Metabolic requirements for the maintenance of self-renewing stem cells. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol. 2014;15:243–56.
Lyssiotis CA, Kimmelman AC. Metabolic interactions in the tumor microenvironment. Trends Cell Biol. 2017;27:863–75.
Watanabe R, Shirai T, Namkoong H, Zhang H, Berry GJ, Wallis BB, et al. Pyruvate controls the checkpoint inhibitor PD-L1 and suppresses T cell immunity. J Clin Invest. 2017;127:2725–38.
Ohtsubo K, Marth JD. Glycosylation in cellular mechanisms of health and disease. Cell. 2006;126:855–67.
Li CW, Lim SO, Xia W, Lee HH, Chan LC, Kuo CW, et al. Glycosylation and stabilization of programmed death ligand-1 suppresses T-cell activity. Nat Commun. 2016;7:12632.
Ryan JM, Barry F, Murphy JM, Mahon BP. Interferon-gamma does not break, but promotes the immunosuppressive capacity of adult human mesenchymal stem cells. Clin Exp Immunol. 2007;149:353–63.
Villiger PM, Cronin MT, Amenomori T, Wachsman W, Lotz M. IL-6 production by human T lymphocytes. Expression in HTLV-1-infected but not in normal T cells. J Immunol. 1991;146:550–9.
Mougiakakos D, Jitschin R, Johansson CC, Okita R, Kiessling R, Le Blanc K. The impact of inflammatory licensing on heme oxygenase-1-mediated induction of regulatory T cells by human mesenchymal stem cells. Blood. 2011;117:4826–35.
Robinson CM, Shirey KA, Carlin JM. Synergistic transcriptional activation of indoleamine dioxygenase by IFN-gamma and tumor necrosis factor-alpha. J Interferon Cytokine Res. 2003;23:413–21.
Robinson CM, Hale PT, Carlin JM. The role of IFN-gamma and TNF-alpha-responsive regulatory elements in the synergistic induction of indoleamine dioxygenase. J Interferon Cytokine Res. 2005;25:20–30.
Pitroda SP, Wakim BT, Sood RF, Beveridge MG, Beckett MA, MacDermed DM, et al. STAT1-dependent expression of energy metabolic pathways links tumour growth and radioresistance to the Warburg effect. BMC Med. 2009;7:68.
Tandon P, Gallo CA, Khatri S, Barger JF, Yepiskoposyan H, Plas DR. Requirement for ribosomal protein S6 kinase 1 to mediate glycolysis and apoptosis resistance induced by Pten deficiency. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2011;108:2361–5.
Ivashkiv LB, Donlin LT. Regulation of type I interferon responses. Nat Rev Immunol. 2014;14:36–49.
Hart GW. Minireview series on the thirtieth anniversary of research on O-GlcNAcylation of nuclear and cytoplasmic proteins: nutrient regulation of cellular metabolism and physiology by O-GlcNAcylation. J Biol Chem. 2014;289:34422–3.
Peng C, Zhu Y, Zhang W, Liao Q, Chen Y, Zhao X, et al. Regulation of the Hippo-YAP pathway by glucose sensor O-GlcNAcylation. Mol Cell. 2017;68:591–604. e595
Bond MR, Hanover JA. A little sugar goes a long way: the cell biology of O-GlcNAc. J Cell Biol. 2015;208:869–80.
Araujo L, Khim P, Mkhikian H, Mortales CL, Demetriou M. Glycolysis and glutaminolysis cooperatively control T cell function by limiting metabolite supply to N-glycosylation. eLife 2017; 6:e21330 https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.21330
Yang X, Qian K. Protein O-GlcNAcylation: emerging mechanisms and functions. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol. 2017;18:452–65.
Freund P, Kerenyi MA, Hager M, Wagner T, Wingelhofer B, Pham HTT, et al. O-GlcNAcylation of STAT5 controls tyrosine phosphorylation and oncogenic transcription in STAT5-dependent malignancies. Leukemia. 2017;31:2132–42.
Han I, Kudlow JE. Reduced O glycosylation of Sp1 is associated with increased proteasome susceptibility. Mol Cell Biol. 1997;17:2550–8.
Liu D, Scafidi J, Prada AE, Zahedi K, Davis AE 3rd. Nuclear phosphatases and the proteasome in suppression of STAT1 activity in hepatocytes. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2002;299:574–80.
Menk AV, Scharping NE, Moreci RS, Zeng X, Guy C, Salvatore S, et al. Early TCR signaling induces rapid aerobic glycolysis enabling distinct acute T cell effector functions. Cell Rep. 2018 ;22:1509–21.
Wang F, Zhang S, Jeon R, Vuckovic I, Jiang X, Lerman A, et al. Interferon gamma induces reversible metabolic reprogramming of M1 macrophages to sustain cell viability and pro-inflammatory activity. EBioMedicine. 2018;30:303–16.
Garcia-Carbonell R, Divakaruni AS, Lodi A, Vicente-Suarez I, Saha A, Cheroutre H, et al. Critical role of glucose metabolism in rheumatoid arthritis fibroblast-like synoviocytes. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2016;68:1614–26.
Yao CH, Fowle-Grider R, Mahieu NG, Liu GY, Chen YJ, Wang R, et al. Exogenous fatty acids are the preferred source of membrane lipids in proliferating fibroblasts. Cell Chem Biol. 2016;23:483–93.
Saleiro D, Platanias LC. Intersection of mTOR and STAT signaling in immunity. Trends Immunol. 2015;36:21–29.
Karonitsch T, Kandasamy RK, Kartnig F, Herdy B, Dalwigk K, Niederreiter B, et al. mTOR senses environmental cues to shape the fibroblast-like synoviocyte response toinflammation. Cell Rep. 2018;23:2157–67.
Rao RR, Li Q, Odunsi K, Shrikant PA. The mTOR kinase determines effector versus memory CD8+T cell fate by regulating the expression of transcription factors T-bet and Eomesodermin. Immunity. 2010;32:67–78.
Bibi S, Arslanhan MD, Langenfeld F, Jeanningros S, Cerny-Reiterer S, Hadzijusufovic E, et al. Co-operating STAT5 and AKT signaling pathways in chronic myeloid leukemia and mastocytosis: possible new targets of therapy. Haematologica. 2014;99:417–29.
Kristof AS, Marks-Konczalik J, Billings E, Moss J. Stimulation of signal transducer and activator of transcription-1 (STAT1)-dependent gene transcription by lipopolysaccharide and interferon-gamma is regulated by mammalian target of rapamycin. J Biol Chem. 2003;278:33637–44.
Kroczynska B, Kaur S, Katsoulidis E, Majchrzak-Kita B, Sassano A, Kozma SC, et al. Interferon-dependent engagement of eukaryotic initiation factor 4B via S6 kinase (S6K)- and ribosomal protein S6K-mediated signals. Mol Cell Biol. 2009;29:2865–75.
Ramana CV, Gil MP, Schreiber RD, Stark GR. Stat1-dependent and -independent pathways in IFN-gamma-dependent signaling. Trends Immunol. 2002;23:96–101.
Yang WH, Park SY, Nam HW, Kim DH, Kang JG, Kang ES, et al. NFkappaB activation is associated with its O-GlcNAcylation state under hyperglycemic conditions. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2008;105:17345–50.
Phoomak C, Vaeteewoottacharn K, Silsirivanit A, Saengboonmee C, Seubwai W, Sawanyawisuth K, et al. High glucose levels boost the aggressiveness of highly metastatic cholangiocarcinoma cells via O-GlcNAcylation. Sci Rep. 2017;7:43842.
Lund PJ, Elias JE, Davis MM. Global analysis of O-GlcNAc glycoproteins in activated human T cells. J Immunol. 2016;197:3086–98.
Steentoft C, Vakhrushev SY, Joshi HJ, Kong Y, Vester-Christensen MB, Schjoldager KT, et al. Precision mapping of the human O-GalNAc glycoproteome through SimpleCell technology. EMBO J. 2013;32:1478–88.
Hardiville S, Hart GW. Nutrient regulation of signaling, transcription, and cell physiology by O-GlcNAcylation. Cell Metab. 2014;20:208–13.
Wellen KE, Hotamisligil GS. Inflammation, stress, and diabetes. J Clin Invest. 2005;115:1111–9.
Niven DJ, Rubenfeld GD, Kramer AA, Stelfox HT. Effect of published scientific evidence on glycemic control in adult intensive care units. JAMA Intern Med. 2015;175:801–9.
Sukumar M, Liu J, Ji Y, Subramanian M, Crompton JG, Yu Z, et al. Inhibiting glycolytic metabolism enhances CD8+T cell memory and antitumor function. J Clin Invest. 2013;123:4479–88.
Pearce EL, Walsh MC, Cejas PJ, Harms GM, Shen H, Wang LS, et al. Enhancing CD8 T-cell memory by modulating fatty acid metabolism. Nature. 2009;460:103–7.
Ribas A. Adaptive immune resistance: how cancer protects from immune attack. Cancer Discov. 2015;5:915–9.
Dominici M, Le Blanc K, Mueller I, Slaper-Cortenbach I, Marini F, Krause D, et al. Minimal criteria for defining multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells. The International Society for Cellular Therapy position statement. Cytotherapy. 2006;8:315–7.
Jitschin R, Braun M, Qorraj M, Saul D, Le Blanc K, Zenz T, et al. Stromal cell-mediated glycolytic switch in CLL cells involves Notch-c-Myc signaling. Blood. 2015;125:3432–6.
Loschinski R, Bottcher M, Stoll A, Bruns H, Mackensen A, Mougiakakos D. IL-21 modulates memory and exhaustion phenotype of T-cells in a fatty acid oxidation-dependent manner. Oncotarget. 2018;9:13125–38.
McCarthy DJ, Campbell KR, Lun AT, Wills QF. Scater: pre-processing, quality control, normalization and visualization of single-cell RNA-seq data in R. Bioinformatics. 2017;33:1179–86.
Subramanian A, Tamayo P, Mootha VK, Mukherjee S, Ebert BL, Gillette MA, et al. Gene set enrichment analysis: a knowledge-based approach for interpreting genome-wide expression profiles. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2005;102:15545–50.
Ashburner M, Ball CA, Blake JA, Botstein D, Butler H, Cherry JM, et al. Gene ontology: tool for the unification of biology. The Gene Ontology Consortium. Nat Genet. 2000;25:25–29.
The Gene Ontology C. Expansion of the Gene Ontology knowledgebase and resources. Nucleic Acids Res. 2017;45(D1):D331–D338.
Acknowledgements
RJ was supported by the IZKF Erlangen and funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation)- project number 324392634-TRR 221. RL was supported by the “i-Target” doctorate program of the Elite Network Bavaria. DM was supported by the IZKF Erlangen, by the Deutsche Krebshilfe, and the Else Kröner-Fresenius Foundation.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
RJ, MB, DS, SL, HB, and RL planned and performed research, compiled and analyzed data, and helped in writing the manuscript. ABE, AR, and AM helped designing experiments and analyzing the data. DM designed the study, analyzed data, and wrote the manuscript.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Additional information
Publisher’s note: Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Supplementary information
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Jitschin, R., Böttcher, M., Saul, D. et al. Inflammation-induced glycolytic switch controls suppressivity of mesenchymal stem cells via STAT1 glycosylation. Leukemia 33, 1783–1796 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41375-018-0376-6
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41375-018-0376-6
This article is cited by
-
Factors Defining Human Adipose Stem/Stromal Cell Immunomodulation in Vitro
Stem Cell Reviews and Reports (2024)
-
Immunomodulatory properties of mesenchymal stem cells/dental stem cells and their therapeutic applications
Cellular & Molecular Immunology (2023)
-
MacroH2A1.1 as a crossroad between epigenetics, inflammation and metabolism of mesenchymal stromal cells in myelodysplastic syndromes
Cell Death & Disease (2023)
-
Molecular mechanisms of cellular metabolic homeostasis in stem cells
International Journal of Oral Science (2023)
-
Characterization of mesenchymal stem cells in human fetal bone marrow by single-cell transcriptomic and functional analysis
Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy (2023)