Antigen non-specific CD8⁺ T cells accelerate cognitive decline in aged mice following respiratory coronavirus infection.

ABSTRACT: Primarily a respiratory infection, numerous patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 present with neurologic symptoms, some continuing long after viral clearance as a persistent symptomatic phase termed "long COVID". Advanced age increases the risk of severe disease, as well as incidence of long COVID. We hypothesized that perturbations in the aged immune response predispose elderly individuals to severe coronavirus infection and post-infectious sequelae. Using a murine model of respiratory coronavirus, mouse hepatitis virus strain A59 (MHV-A59), we found that aging increased clinical illness and lethality to MHV infection, with aged animals harboring increased virus in the brain during acute infection. This was coupled with an unexpected increase in activated CD8⁺ T cells within the b

SUBMITTER: Reagin KL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10802364 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature