Sweetener system intervention shifted a neutrophils transcript profile from homeostasis to priming
Description
The recent identification of taste receptor expression and signaling in a variety of immune cells suggested their immune-modulatory relevance. We aimed to investigate the influence of a food-typical artificial sweetener system on the transcriptional profiling of sweetener-cognate taste receptors, selected cytokines and their receptors, and to identify sweetener intervention-induced functional gene ontology clusters in isolated neutrophils. We determined plasma concentrations of saccharin, acesulfame-K, and cyclamate by HPLC-MS/MS, upon ingestion of a soft drink-typical sweetener surrogate. In an open-labeled, randomized intervention study, we determined pre- versus post-intervention transcript levels by RT-qPCR of sweetener-cognate taste receptors and immune factors in isolated neutrophils. Consumption of the beverage-typical surrogate resulted in a significant early upregulation of taste receptor subunit TAS1R3, and in transcriptional regulation signatures of early homeostasis- and late receptor- and inflammation-related genes, enabling a statistical separation of the 4-24 h post-intervention times versus pre-intervention. Here we show that consumption of a food-typical sweetener system modulated gene expression of cognate taste receptors and of cell system-specific immune mediators in blood neutrophils, shifting their transcriptional profile from homeostasis to priming.