Inflammation and metabolism of influenza-stimulated PBMCs from adults with obesity following bariatric surgery

Abstract Background Obesity dysregulates immunity to influenza infection. Therefore, there is a critical need to investigate how obesity impairs immunity and to establish therapeutic approaches that mitigate the impact of increased adiposity. One mechanism by which obesity may alter immune response is through changes in cellular metabolism. Methods We studied inflammation and cellular metabolism of PBMCs isolated from individuals with obesity relative to lean controls. We also investigated if impairments to PBMC metabolism were reversible upon short-term weight loss following bariatric surgery. Results Obesity was associated with systemic inflammation and poor inflammation resolution. Unstimulated PBMCs from subjects with obesity had lower oxidative metabolism and ATP production compared to PBMCs from lean controls. PBMC secretome analyses showed that ex vivo stimulation with A/Cal/7/2009 H1N1 influenza led to a notable increase in IL-6 with obesity. Short-term weight loss via bariatric surgery improved biomarkers of systemic metabolism but did not improve markers of inflammation resolution, PBMC metabolism, or the PBMC secretome. Conclusions These results show obesity drives a signature of impaired PBMC metabolism, which may be due to persistent inflammation. PBMC metabolism was not reversed after short-term weight loss despite improvements in measures of systemic metabolism.