Immunomodulatory effect of Decitabine treatment in monocytes and macrophages phenotype and functions

Pharmacological modulation of epigenetic alterations has become a wide field of study, especially for the treatment of some tumors, such as hematological malignancies. Although the focus of therapies with hypomethylating agents was the control of tumor cells, immune cells are important targets of action of these drugs. In this sense, we aim to evaluate the effect of treatment with Decitabine, a DNMT inhibitor, in function and polarization profile of monocytes and macrophages in vitro after infectious challenge. We showed that Decitabine induced increased bacterial phagocytosis and IL-8 release, however impaired the killing of bacteria by monocytes. Also, the administration of the drug during macrophages differentiation promotes an M2-like profile and reduced bacterial burden. Moreover, the production of inflammatory and regulatory mediators is equal to untreated cells. Thus, we indicated a potential role of these drugs to modulate immune response, affecting disease outcome.