Lifelong CMV infection improves immune defense in old mice by broadening the mobilized TCR repertoire against third-party infection.

ABSTRACT: Lifelong interactions between host and the ubiquitous and persistent cytomegalovirus (CMV) have been proposed to contribute to the age-related decline in immunity. Prior work from us and others found some support for that idea, yet evidence that this led to increased vulnerability to other infections was not obtained. Moreover, evidence has accumulated that CMV infection can be beneficial to immune defense in young/adult mice and humans, dominantly via enhanced innate immunity. Here, we describe an unexpected impact of murine CMV (MCMV) upon the T cell response of old mice to Listeria monocytogenes expressing the model antigen, OVA (Lm-OVA). Single-cell sequencing of the OVA-specific CD8 T cell receptor β (TCRβ) repertoire of old mice demonstrated that old MCMV-infected mice recruit

SUBMITTER: Smithey MJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6055168 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature