Protective role of lactate in allergic airway inflammation: mitigation of inflammatory injury, epithelial barrier integrity restoration, and gut-lung axis involvement.

Authors

Meilian Lin, Jie Zhou, Yan Wang, Wenchun Xu, Xiaoyu Sun

Published in

Respiratory research. Jul 13, 2026. Epub Jul 13, 2026.

Abstract

Allergic asthma is a prevalent respiratory disorder characterized by chronic airway inflammation and remodeling. Glycolysis has been reported to participate in pathogenesis of allergic asthma and increased lactate levels were found in asthma patients and mouse models. However, the function of lactate in allergic asthma remains unclear.
A mouse model of HDM induced allergic airway inflammation was established. Six age- and weight-matched female mice were assigned to different groups using a randomized double-blind method. A panel of indicators such as serum IgE, infiltration cell numbers, Th2 cytokines levels and eosinophil extracellular traps (EETs) were applied to assess airway inflammation. Airway epithelial barrier function was measured by Western blot and immunofluorescent staining. RNAseq analysis of lung tissues was applied to elucidate potential mechanisms, and 16S rRNA gene sequencing of fecal samples was used for gut microbiota analysis.
Administration of lactate could significantly ameliorate allergic airway inflammation including Th2 cytokines, inflammatory cell infiltration, histopathological morphological changes together with eosinophil extracellular traps (EETs) formation in a mouse model of asthma. Moreover, RNAseq analysis revealed that lactate decreased proinflammtory cytokine and chemokine related pathways such as MAPK, STAT1, STAT3 and NF-κB to exert immunoregulatory effects. In addition, we found that lactate dramatically inhibited airway epithelial barrier dysfunction and pulmonary apoptosis. Furthermore, 16S rRNA gene sequencing of fecal samples suggested that lactate treatment increased abundance of Lactobacillus, Limosilactobacillus and Bacteroides, showing a shift towards a healthier state in HDM-induced asthmatic mice.
Our study integrating transcriptomic and microbiome analyses, revealed a protective effect of lactate on allergic airway inflammation, providing a basis for development of novel therapeutic treatment for allergic asthma.

PMID:
42443904
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 14 Jul 2026.

Read full publication at:
Please sign in to see all details.

Stats

1-terrible, 9-excellent. How would you rate this publication? Sign in in to submit your rating.

Post a comment

You need to be signed in to post comments. You can sign in here.

Comments

There are no comments yet.