Dendritic cells (DCs) increase their metabolic dependence on glucose and glycolysis to support their maturation, activation-associated cytokine production, and T-cell stimulatory capacity. We have previously shown that this increase in glucose metabolism can be initiated by both Toll-like receptor (TLR) and C-type lectin receptor (CLR) agonists. In addition, we have shown that the TLR-dependent demand for glucose is partially satisfied by intracellular glycogen stores. However, the role of glycogen metabolism in supporting CLR-dependent DC glycolytic demand has not been formally demonstrated. In this work, we have shown that DCs activated with fungal-associated β-glucan ligands exhibit acute glycolysis induction that is dependent on glycogen metabolism. Furthermore, glycogen metabolism supports DC maturation, inflammatory cytokine production, and priming of the nucleotide-binding domain, leucine-rich-containing family, pyrin domain-containing-3 (NLRP3) inflammasome in response to both TLR- and CLR-mediated activation. These data support a model in which different classes of innate immune receptors functionally converge in their requirement for glycogen-dependent glycolysis to metabolically support early DC activation. These studies provide new insight into how DC immune effector function is metabolically regulated in response to diverse inflammatory stimuli.
Keywords: dendritic cells; glucose; glycogen; glycolysis; innate immunity; metabolism.