The metabolic stressor 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG) enhances LPS-stimulated cytokine production in mice.

The present study was designed to evaluate the influence of metabolic stress on murine cytokine production in vivo. Female Swiss-Webster mice were exposed to a single or multiple injections of the metabolic stressor 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG; 500 mg/kg body wt) once every 48 h and then were injected intravenously with 10 micrograms of bacterial lipopolysaccharide to stimulate macrophage-derived cytokine production. Plasma samples were harvested 2 h later and were assayed for interleukin (IL)-1, IL-3, and IL-6 activities using a panel of standardized bioassays. It was found that one, two, or three injections of 2-DG enhanced the production of all three cytokines. An attenuation of the enhancing effect was observed following the fourth and fifth injections. These results demonstrate that the metabolic stressor 2-DG can alter immune cell effector functions, including the enhancement of normal patterns of cytokine production in vivo.