Journal of Clinical and Translational Science (Apr 2022)

462 Dysfunctional leukocyte mitochondrial metabolism is associated with immune paralysis in critically ill septic patients

  • Lisa K Torres,
  • Keith McConn,
  • Luis Gomez-Escobar,
  • Suzanne Cloonan,
  • Augustine MK Choi

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1017/cts.2022.271
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 6
pp. 92 – 92

Abstract

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OBJECTIVES/GOALS: The host immune response during sepsis is now recognized to have anti-inflammatory pathophysiology. We aim to determine whether mitochondrial dysfunction of leukocytes predicts which critically ill septic patients develop immune paralysis and to identify differences in cellular metabolites between patients with and without immune paralysis. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: Critically ill septic and control adult patients were recruited from one of 6 ICUs in a single-center tertiary care academic hospital. After enrollment, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were isolated from a tube of whole blood on day 0-1 after ICU admission. Flow cytometry to quantify monocyte HLA-DR was performed to determine whether patients were immune paralyzed or not. Mitochondrial functional assays of PBMCs were performed with inhibitors of the electron transport chain to assess for differences in oxidative phosphorylation and glycolysis utilization. Metabolic profiling of cell pellets was performed to evaluate for specific metabolites and pathways associated with immune paralyzed patients. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: A total of 101 patients were recruited, including 62 control and 39 septic patients. 81 patients had immune paralysis status available for analysis. 52% of all recruited subjects were immune paralyzed. Of these, 58% were controls and 75% were septic. Immune paralyzed septic and control patients showed features of reduced utilization of oxidative phosphorylation (ox phos) including reduced basal respiration, ATP production and maximal respiration compared with non-immune paralyzed septic and control patients. Immune paralyzed septic patients showed diminished glycolysis utilization compared with septic non-immune paralyzed patients. Finally, cellular kynurenine and quinolinate levels were low in both immune paralyzed control and septic patients compared with non-immune paralyzed patients. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE: The PBMCs of immune paralyzed septic patients show evidence of mitochondrial dysfunction, with reduced ox phos and glycolysis utilization. Low levels of kynurenine and quinolinate, metabolite precursors to NAD+, in immune paralyzed patients may signal key deficiencies and targetable therapeutic avenues for reversal of an immune paralyzed state.