Cytomegalovirus infection impairs immune responses and accentuates T-cell pool changes observed in mice with aging.

ABSTRACT: Prominent immune alterations associated with aging include the loss of naïve T-cell numbers, diversity and function. While genetic contributors and mechanistic details in the aging process have been addressed in multiple studies, the role of environmental agents in immune aging remains incompletely understood. From the standpoint of environmental infectious agents, latent cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection has been associated with an immune risk profile in the elderly humans, yet the cause-effect relationship of this association remains unclear. Here we present direct experimental evidence that mouse CMV (MCMV) infection results in select T-cell subset changes associated with immune aging, namely the increase of relative and absolute counts of CD8 T-cells in the blood, with a decreased repres

SUBMITTER: Cicin-Sain L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3420928 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature