Metabolomics of in vivo inflammation identifies soluble sialic acid as a conserved myeloid-cell metabolite.

During an immune response, metabolism changes dramatically. Metabolites are oxidized to power immune cell functions, serve as building blocks for proliferation, and act as effectors to regulate pathogen or host cells. Though metabolic changes in cultured cells have been studied extensively, metabolism changes in vivo are less understood. Here, we measured metabolomic changes across six mouse tissues in three models of immune activation: CpG-DNA cytokine storm, lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus infection, and polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid viral mimetic injection; and carried out metabolomics in cultured macrophages activated with different stimuli. We found that most metabolomic changes were exclusive to either inflamed tissues or cultured macrophages, although itaconate was strongly induced in both contexts. We then mechanistically dissected the role of the soluble sialic acid N-glycolylneuraminic acid, which is highly induced in inflamed tissues, yet only modestly in cultured macrophages. This metabolite increases in tissues in different models of inflammation, and the analogous human metabolite, N-acetylneuraminic acid, rises in human patients experiencing inflammation. We found that N-glycolylneuraminic acid is produced in CD11b+ myeloid cells by cleavage of protein-bound sialic acid. However, blocking its production did not affect CpG-DNA liver inflammation or lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus infection in mice. Therefore, these experiments identify soluble sialic acid as a conserved biomarker of inflammation in mice and humans and highlight the differences in metabolism between in vitro and in vivo models of inflammation.