Phylogenetic analysis of the human antibody repertoire reveals quantitative signatures of immune senescence and aging.

ABSTRACT: The elderly have reduced humoral immunity, as manifested by increased susceptibility to infections and impaired vaccine responses. To investigate the effects of aging on B-cell receptor (BCR) repertoire evolution during an immunological challenge, we used a phylogenetic distance metric to analyze Ig heavy-chain transcript sequences in both young and elderly individuals before and after influenza vaccination. We determined that BCR repertoires become increasingly specialized over a span of decades, but less plastic. In 50% of the elderly individuals, a large space in the repertoire was occupied by a small number of recall lineages that did not decline during vaccine response and contained hypermutated IgD⁺ B cells. Relative to their younger counterparts, older subjects demonstrat

SUBMITTER: de Bourcy CF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5293037 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature