Aging promotes acquisition of naive-like CD8+ memory T cell traits and enhanced functionalities.

ABSTRACT: Protective T cell memory is an acquired trait that is contingent upon the preservation of its constituents and therefore vulnerable to the potentially deleterious effects of organismal aging. Here, however, we have found that long-term T cell memory in a natural murine host-pathogen system can substantially improve over time. Comprehensive molecular, phenotypic, and functional profiling of aging antiviral CD8+ memory T cells (CD8+ TM) revealed a pervasive remodeling process that promotes the gradual acquisition of distinct molecular signatures, of increasingly homogeneous phenotypes, and of diversified functionalities that combine to confer a CD8+ TM-autonomous capacity for enhanced recall responses and immune protection. Notably, the process of CD8+ TM aging is characterized by a progress

SUBMITTER: Eberlein J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5096808 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature