Changes in the Subpopulation Composition and Phagocytic Activity of Monocytes in Patients with Kidney Cancer under the Influence of Metabolites In Vitro

Abstract

We studied changes in the subpopulation composition and phagocytic activity of monocytes in patients with kidney cancer under the influence of metabolites of the tumor microenvironment in vitro (lactate, ADP, and glutamate). Incubation with metabolites caused similar shifts in the monocyte subsets in kidney cancer patients (an increase in the relative content of classical CD14⁺⁺CD16^— monocytes and a decrease in the content of the fraction of intermediate CD14⁺⁺CD16⁺ monocytes), but different changes in their phagocytic activity. The regulatory effect of metabolites on cells is realized by various mechanisms: receptor, metabolic, and epigenomic. The reactions of monocytes to metabolites in vitro confirm the existence of a distant metabolic effect of the tumor on blood cells that should be taken into account when developing new immunotherapeutic methods.