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The Inflammaging Microenvironment Induces Dysfunctional Rewiring of Tfh Cell Differentiation

ABSTRACT: Humoral immunity is orchestrated by follicular helper T (Tfh) cells, which promote cognate B cells to produce high-affinity, protective antibodies. In aged individuals, humoral immunity after vaccination is diminished despite the presence of Tfh cells, suggesting defects after initial Tfh formation. In this study, we utilized both murine and human systems to investigate how aging alters Tfh cell differentiation after influenza vaccination. We found that young Tfh cells underwent progressive differentiation after influenza vaccination, culminating in clonal expansion of effector-like cells in both draining lymph nodes and blood. In aging, early stages of Tfh development occurred normally. However, aging rewired the later stages of progressive development in Tfh cells, resulting in a transcriptional program reflective of cellular senescence, sustained pro-inflammatory cytokine production, and metabolic reprogramming. We investigated the extent to which this rewiring of aged Tfh cells is due to the age-associated inflammatory (“inflammaging”) microenvironment and found that this setting was sufficient to both block the transition of Tfh cells to a post-effector resting state and to skew Tfh cells towards a hyperinflammatory phenotype. Together, these data suggest that aging dampens humoral immunity by cytokine-mediated rewiring of late effector Tfh cell differentiation into an activated, yet dysfunctional, cellular state.

ORGANISM(S): Mus musculus Homo sapiens

PROVIDER: GSE286979 | GEO | 2025/04/30

REPOSITORIES: GEO

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Project description:The normal response to influenza A infection is to remain asymptomatic; indeed, a study of volunteers who tested positive for antibodies against 2009 H1N1 revealed that a majority did not experience symptoms. However, studies of influenza pandemics since the 20th century, and to a lesser degree seasonal flu, suggest that pregnancy increases influenza-associated morbidity and mortality. The confounding effect of pregnancy has been well established to adversely alter the clinical course of influenza, with short term complications to mother and baby apparent, and long-term consequences to the fetus hypothesized. However, how the condition of pregnancy impacts long-term maternal anti-influenza immunity remains contentious; while vaccination studies suggest humoral responses sufficient for protection, published research on adaptive immune responses against influenza formed during pregnancy is limited. This study expands upon published work from our lab and others by comprehensively examining compartmental and systemic changes following pandemic A/California/07/2009 influenza infection. Previously, we linked seasonal influenza infection to clinical observations of adverse outcomes in pregnancy, enhanced lung and placental histopathology, and reduced control of viral replication in lungs of infected pregnant mothers. Here, we observe that the results of a lower infectious dose of pandemic influenza are similar to that of seasonal influenza. Importantly, we expand upon work which suggests infection during pregnancy may also affect humoral immunity. Our observations of reduced early antibody hemagglutinin inhibition and virus neutralization which resolved within 8 weeks of delivery demonstrate that influenza infection impacts antibody maturation mechanisms without alterations to B cell frequency or antibody secretion. This hypothesis is further supported by plasmablast transcriptional data, which demonstrates downregulated B cell metabolism and post-translational modification systems only among pregnant animals. These findings corroborate a link between adverse pregnancy outcomes and severe pathology observed during influenza infection, and propose resolving humoral deficiencies following influenza infection confounded by pregnancy. Additional studies are required to specify the involvement of plasmablast metabolism with early humoral immunity abnormalities to best guide vaccination strategies and improve our understanding of the immunological consequences of pregnancy.

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The Inflammaging Microenvironment Induces Dysfunctional Rewiring of Tfh Cell Differentiation

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