Glutathione synthesis primes monocytes metabolic and epigenetic pathway for beta-glucan-trained immunity

Trained monocytes and macrophages produce reactive oxygen species (ROS), which trigger antioxidative glutathione (GSH) response to buffer the rising ROS. However, whether and how the trained immunity is shaped by GSH synthesis remains unknown. Here, we report that beta-glucan-trained macrophages from mice harboring a myeloid-specific deletion of the catalytic subunit of glutamate-cysteine ligase (Gclc) showed impaired GSH synthesis and decreased proinflammatory cytokine production in response to lipopolysaccharide challenge. Gclc deficiency compromised the activation of mammalian target of rapamycin-1 (mTOR) and expression of c-Myc transcription factors, abrogating the energy utilization and the metabolic reprogramming that allows beta-glucan-trained macrophages to switch to glycolysis and glutaminolysis. Furthermore, Gclc deletion repressed effective H3K27me3 demethylation in the promoters of immunometabolic genes, such as Gls, Hk2, and Glut1, in beta-glucan-trained macrophages by promoting the methyltransferase enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2). In vivo, myeloid-specific ablation of Gclc decreased the secretion of proinflammatory cytokines upon rechallenge with Candida albicans and these animals were less protected against the infection, compared with control littermates. Moreover, pharmacological inhibition of EZH2 enhanced the trained immunity response against Candida infection in Gclc-deficient mouse and human peripheral blood mononuclear cells treated with GCLC inhibitor buthionine sulfoximine (BSO). Thus, antioxidative GSH synthesis supports an environment conducive to beta-glucan-induced metabolic and epigenetic reprogramming in trained immunity, allowing exploration of its functional consequences in autoimmune or inflammatory disease.