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Immune system can become so over-activated when fighting infections that the resulting inflammatory response can lead to death. Excessive response by the immune system can be modulated by targeted manipulation of the sugar metabolism to produce an immune response that eliminates the pathogens without causing any harmful to the immune system.
Using 2-Deoxy-D-glucose 2-DG during the infection make this possible, adding 2-DG, that prevents glycolysis, causes increased production of interleukin-12 IL-12, a pro-inflammatory cytokine, while suppressing the production of interleukin-10, an anti-inflammatory cytokine.
IL-12 triggers a specific T-cell immune response, which is part of the cellular immune response, to specifically boost the defence mechanisms that serve to eliminate intracellular pathogens like listeria. Addition of 2-DG changes the nature of the immune response and the intensity of the inflammatory process, inflammation is controlled so that the immune system is able to manage the situation without allowing the infection to leads to a deadly outcome.
This prevents excessive inflammatory responses, following addition of of 2-DG, only p40 is upregulated, while no p35 is produced. This modified cytokine profile, there is also a simultaneous increase in IL-23 expression which could subsequently bring about modified recruitment of immune cells and hence have a decisive influence on the intensity of the immune response.
The metabolic increased production of activating mediators with simultaneous inhibition of immunosuppressive mediators. Manipulation of the sugar metabolism and associated modulation of the immune system could open up new options for treating specific infectious and autoimmune diseases
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