Lymph node and circulating T cell characteristics are strongly correlated in end-stage renal disease patients, but highly differentiated T cells reside within the circulation.

Ageing is associated with changes in the peripheral T cell immune system, which can be influenced significantly by latent cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection. To what extent changes in circulating T cell populations correlate with T cell composition of the lymph node (LN) is unclear, but is crucial for a comprehensive understanding of the T cell system. T cells from peripheral blood (PB) and LN of end-stage renal disease patients were analysed for frequency of recent thymic emigrants using CD31 expression and T cell receptor excision circle content, relative telomere length and expression of differentiation markers. Compared with PB, LN contained relatively more CD4 than CD8 T cells (P < 0·001). The percentage of naive and central memory CD4 and CD8 T cells and thymic output parameters showed a strong linear correlation between PB and LN. Highly differentiated CD28 T cells, being CD27 , CD57 or programmed death 1 (PD-1 ), were found almost exclusively in the circulation but not in LN. An age-related decline in naive CD4 and CD8 T cell frequency was observed (P = 0·035 and P = 0·002, respectively) within LN, concomitant with an increase in central memory CD8 T cells (P = 0·033). Latent CMV infection increased dramatically the frequency of circulating terminally differentiated T cells, but did not alter T cell composition and ageing parameters of LN significantly. Overall T cell composition and measures of thymic function in PB and LN are correlated strongly. However, highly differentiated CD28 T cells, which may comprise a large part of circulating T cells in CMV-seropositive individuals, are found almost exclusively within the circulation.