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Local Immunometabolic Intervention With Alanyl-Glutamine Resolves Peritoneal Dialysis-Induced Immune Cell Dysfunction
Rebecca Herzog1,2, Lisa Daniel-Fischer1,2, Fabian Eibensteiner1,2,3
1Division of Pediatric Nephrology and Gastroenterology, Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Comprehensive Center for Pediatrics, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
Introduction:
Peritoneal dialysis (PD) is the most prevalent home-based dialysis therapy. However, chronic exposure to metabolically imbalanced high-glucose PD fluids is associated with infectious complications and morphological changes that limit PD duration and patient survival. Here, we analyzed interactions among peritoneal cell immune function, inflammation, and glucose metabolism in a prospective cohort study of patients on PD.
Methods:
In 117 patients (mean follow-up: 2.15 years), samples from peritoneal equilibration tests (PETs) were assessed for interleukin (IL)-6 levels as a measure of peritoneal inflammation, and ex vivo toll-like receptor (TLR)-stimulated cytokine release as a measure of immune cell function. In addition, proteomic profiling and targeted metabolomics (1000 metabolites) were performed on peritoneal effluents. Coincubation experiments using patient effluents from a single-center randomized controlled trial (RCT) (n = 20 patients) and immune cells from healthy donors were also conducted to assess effluent-induced immune modulation. Samples from a multicenter RCT (n = 37 patients) were used as a validation cohort.
Results:
Peritoneal inflammation correlated negatively with peritoneal cell immune function and positively with increased risk of subsequent peritonitis (hazard ratio: 3.8). Patients with higher peritoneal inflammation had an altered peritoneal metabolomic profile, with significant perturbation of glucose and amino acid metabolism. Immunometabolic intervention with alanyl-glutamine (AlaGln) supplementation of PD fluid restored immune cell function specifically in patients with high peritoneal inflammation, highlighting the potential to prevent subsequent infections.
Conclusion:
These results provide the first direct, longitudinal evidence linking immunometabolism with peritoneal glucose exposure, local inflammation, as well as impaired peritoneal cell function and infection in a human PD cohort. Metabolic intervention designed to restore adequate peritoneal cell immune function represents a novel therapeutic approach with promise for improved clinical outcomes in chronic PD.
