Preserved Type 2 Immune Cell Plasticity in Human Obesity and Differential Immune Reconstitution After Bariatric Surgery
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Background
Obesity disrupts type 2 immune cell populations in white adipose tissue, replacing the homeostatic network of group 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s), eosinophils, T helper 2 (Th2) cells, and alternatively activated macrophages (AAMs) with pro-inflammatory type 1 populations. Whether this remodelling reflects permanent immune impairment or a reversible shift in cellular equilibrium, and to what extent bariatric surgery restores type 2 immunity, remain incompletely understood.
Methods
We performed comprehensive immunophenotyping of visceral white adipose tissue (WAT) and peripheral blood from persons with severe obesity (people with obesity, PWO) scheduled for or having undergone bariatric surgery (sleeve gastrectomy, gastric bypass), combined with lean controls. Using flow cytometry, quantitative PCR, and in vitro polarization assays, we assessed immune cell frequencies, transcription factor expression, cytokine profiles, and functional polarization capacity across lean, pre-operative, and post-operative states.
Results
Obesity was associated with decreased eosinophil and CD8 + T cells frequencies in WAT, accompanied by an increase in CD4 + frequency and a shift from Th2 toward Th1 predominance, as well as elevated PD-1 expression on T cell subsets. Bariatric surgery partially normalised peripheral immune cell composition, reducing CD8 + T cell frequencies while increasing CD4 + T cells. Macrophage polarization capacity, dampened in pre-operative PWO, recovered after surgery. Conversely, Th2 polarization capacity and IL-13 production were reduced in post-operative T cells despite preserved function pre-operatively, indicating divergent trajectories of innate and adaptive immune reconstitution.
Conclusion
Type 2 immune cells retain functional plasticity in human obesity despite reduced frequency. Bariatric surgery differentially reconstitutes immune function, restoring macrophage plasticity while paradoxically reducing Th2 polarization capacity, arguing against uniform immune normalisation after weight loss.
Funding
German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR, FKZ 01KI2109), Interdisciplinary Center for Clinical Research (IZKF, Faculty of Medicine, Friedrich-Alexander Universität (FAU) Erlangen-Nürnberg).
