Metabolic and Innate Immune Memory Alterations in Human Monocytes on Chiang-Mai-PM2.5 Stimulation

The rise of PM2.5 in air pollution correlates with increased disease exacerbation, especially in asthma. This study aims to examine how Chiang-Mai, Thailand PM2.5 (CM-PM2.5) affects innate immune responses in primary human monocytes. A transcriptomic profile was obtained from cells that were stimulated with low and high doses of CM-PM2.5 (5 and 20 μg/ml) for 24 hr. The data indicated that primary human monocytes respond to CM-PM2.5 in a dose-dependent manner. The pyrimidine ribonucleotide metabolism was predominant in both datasets, but the suppression of glycolytic rate was found in high doses of CM-PM2.5 stimulation. The upregulation of the key metabolic genes was unable to compensate for the suppression. Moreover, CM-PM2.5 priming induced immune tolerance during subsequent LPS stimulation in primary human monocytes from asthma.