A new study led by researchers from Germany and Belgium has revealed that having too much salt in the diet can cause the energy supply to immune regulators to be cut off.
Salt
The average Western diet is high in salt and this has become a public health concern. Findings from this new research show the need to be extra careful with high salt intake.
Read Also: Consuming Too Much Salt Disturbs the Activity of Immune Cells
The international research team led by scientists from the Max Delbrück Center, the VIB Center for Inflammation Research, and Hasselt University found that too much salt makes regulatory T-cells (Tregs) become temporarily dysfunctional. This occurs as a result of the cutting off or weakening of the cells’ energy supply.
Results from the study appeared in Cell Metabolism. They could help to better work out how autoimmune and cardiovascular diseases develop.
Scientists have reported a link between high salt intake and the incidence of cardiovascular disease and hypertension.
Salt and immune regulators
Regulatory T-cells are white blood cells that play a role in the regulation of immune responses. They are integral to the adaptive immune system and help to suppress or regulate other immune cells. Tregs help to check autoimmune diseases by keeping the body from attacking its own cells.
Read Also: Too Much Salt Weakens the Immune System According to Study
This specialized T-cell subpopulation is, therefore, sometimes described as “police” or “mechanics” of the immune system. Without the immune regulators, bad “gangs” such as autoreactive immune cells could disrupt normal function and promote harmful inflammation.
Research has shown that Treg deregulation may play a part in multiple sclerosis and other autoimmune diseases. There is also evidence of mitochondrial glitches in Tregs of people with an autoimmune issue.
A study carried out some years ago and involving researchers in the current work showed that excess salt in diet hurts metabolism and energy balance. The teams found that certain innate immune cells (monocytes and macrophages) became dysfunctional as a result.
Scientists observed in that study that salt sets off mitochondrial malfunctions.
Going by prior research, too much salt seems to affect the function of Tregs by producing an autoimmune-like phenotype. It causes these immune regulators to appear like those cells seen in autoimmune conditions.
It was not totally clear, however, how salt undermines the function of these immune regulators.
Disruption of mitochondrial function
Researchers sought to find out in the current study whether adaptive immune cells such as Tregs are impacted by salt in a manner similar to what they observed years ago. They wanted to better grasp how sodium messes up with Treg function.
The research team found out in this new work led by Professor Dominik Müller and Professor Markus Kleinewietfeld that salt disrupts mitochondrial energy generation. It alters cellular metabolism to cause Tregs not to function properly.
The interference with energy creation by mitochondria, which are described as the powerhouses of cells, appears to be the trigger of excess salt’s effect on immune regulators.
“The better understanding of factors and underlying molecular mechanisms contributing to Treg dysfunction in autoimmunity is an important question in the field,” explained Professor Kleinewietfeld, who is the head of the VIB Laboratory for Translational Immunomodulation. “Since Tregs also play a role in diseases such as cancer or cardiovascular disease, the further exploration of such sodium-elicited effects may offer novel strategies for altering Treg function in different types of diseases.”
Researchers say even a temporary malfunction of mitochondria induced by surplus salt produced long-lasting effects on the function and capacity of Tregs in different experimental models.
While this study suggests that salt may play a part in Treg dysfunction and multiple diseases, the team in this study called for further investigations.
The researchers said further studies are required to better understand the underlying molecular mechanisms. These would hopefully help to work out possible links to disorders.
References
Sodium perturbs mitochondrial respiration and induces dysfunctional Tregs
