Faster cytotoxicity with age: Increased perforin and granzyme levels in cytotoxic CD8⁺ T cells boost cancer cell elimination.

ABSTRACT: A variety of intrinsic and extrinsic factors contribute to the altered efficiency of CTLs in elderly organisms. In particular, the efficacy of antiviral CD8⁺ T cells responses in the elderly has come back into focus since the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. However, the exact molecular mechanisms leading to alterations in T cell function and the origin of the observed impairments have not been fully explored. Therefore, we investigated whether intrinsic changes affect the cytotoxic ability of CD8⁺ T cells in aging. We focused on the different subpopulations and time-resolved quantification of cytotoxicity during tumor cell elimination. We report a surprising result: Killing kinetics of CD8⁺ T cells from elderly mice are much faster than those of CD8⁺

SUBMITTER: Zophel D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9381916 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature