Lactate-Induced H3K18 Lactylation Drives CX3CL1-Mediated Immune Cell Recruitment in Sepsis-Associated ARDS

Here, we investigated whether lactate regulates chemokine transcription through histone lactylation. Human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were treated with lactate (LAC group) or PBS control (CON group), followed by RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) to identify differentially expressed genes.

Chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing (ChIP-seq) using H3K18la-specific antibody was performed to detect lactylation-enriched gene promoters. Integration of RNA-seq and ChIP-seq data identified CX3CL1 as a lactylation-regulated chemokine. Functional assays demonstrated that lactate-induced H3K18la promotes CX3CL1 expression, enhances PBMC migration, and facilitates T cell recruitment in vitro.