Hospitalised older adults with community-acquired pneumonia and sepsis have dysregulated neutrophil function but preserved glycolysis
Objective Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is a leading cause of hospitalisation in older adults and is associated with a high likelihood of adverse outcomes. Given the ageing population and lack of therapeutic advances in CAP, new strategies to manage the burden of this disease are needed. Neutrophil dysfunction has been widely demonstrated in CAP and is associated with poor outcomes. We hypothesised that impaired glycolytic metabolism was driving neutrophil dysfunction in older adults with CAP. Methods To investigate the mechanism underlying neutrophil dysfunction in CAP, we recruited older adults with CAP and sepsis, age-matched controls and healthy young adults to assess neutrophil function and glycolytic metabolism in peripheral blood neutrophils. Results We demonstrate that neutrophils from older donors with CAP display a broad range of functional defects, including inaccurate migration to interleukin 8, impaired respiratory burst in response to phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate
