Metabolic reprogramming of immune cells following vaccination: from metabolites to personalized vaccinology

Identifying metabolic signatures induced by the immune response to vaccines allows to discriminate vaccinated from non-vaccinated subjects and decipher the molecular mechanisms associated with the host immune response. This review illustrates and discusses the results of metabolomics-based studies on the innate and adaptive immune response to vaccines, long-term functional reprogramming (immune memory), and adverse reactions. Glycolysis is not overexpressed by vaccines, suggesting that the immune cell response to vaccinations does not require rapid energy availability as that is necessary during an infection. Vaccines strongly impact lipids metabolism, including saturated or unsaturated fatty acids, inositol phosphate, and cholesterol. Cholesterol is strategic for synthesizing 25-hydroxycholesterol in activated macrophages and dendritic cells and stimulates the conversion of macrophages and T cells in M2 macrophage and Treg, respectively. In conclusion, the large-scale application of metabolomics enables the identification of candidate predictive biomarkers of vaccine efficacy/tolerability.