Immune Metabolism in Aging and Obesity – insights from human studies

Summary

We studied the heterogeneity in immune cell metabolism in humans and explored the impact of aging and obesity. We found that individuals have unique metabolic signatures of immune cells and that these signatures differed between healthy elderly individuals and individuals with overweight and obesity. These unique signatures were associated with metabolic complications of aging and obesity, including elevated cholesterol levels and insulin resistance, among individuals without established metabolic diseases. Immune metabolic signatures may therefore be further investigated for their potential as early biomarker for metabolic complications. In addition, we showed that metabolites can modify immune metabolism and functionality and thereby provided new leads for therapeutic strategies aimed at modifying immune metabolism to prevent metabolic complications of aging and obesity.