The Shraga Segal Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Genetics, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva 8410501, Israel.
Zlotowski Neuroscience Center and Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research Center, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel.
Sci Adv. 2019 Aug 21;5(8):eaaw8330. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aaw8330. eCollection 2019 Aug.
Age-associated changes in CD4 T-cell functionality have been linked to chronic inflammation and decreased immunity. However, a detailed characterization of CD4 T cell phenotypes that could explain these dysregulated functional properties is lacking. We used single-cell RNA sequencing and multidimensional protein analyses to profile thousands of CD4 T cells obtained from young and old mice. We found that the landscape of CD4 T cell subsets differs markedly between young and old mice, such that three cell subsets-exhausted, cytotoxic, and activated regulatory T cells (aT)-appear rarely in young mice but gradually accumulate with age. Most unexpected were the extreme pro- and anti-inflammatory phenotypes of cytotoxic CD4 T cells and aT, respectively. These findings provide a comprehensive view of the dynamic reorganization of the CD4 T cell milieu with age and illuminate dominant subsets associated with chronic inflammation and immunity decline, suggesting new therapeutic avenues for age-related diseases.
与慢性炎症和免疫力下降相关联的是,CD4 T 细胞功能的年龄相关性变化。然而,缺乏能够解释这些功能失调特性的 CD4 T 细胞表型的详细特征描述。我们使用单细胞 RNA 测序和多维蛋白质分析技术对从小鼠中获得的数千个 CD4 T 细胞进行了分析。我们发现,年轻和老年小鼠的 CD4 T 细胞亚群景观存在显著差异,以至于三种细胞亚群——耗竭型、细胞毒性和活化的调节性 T 细胞(aT)——在年轻小鼠中很少出现,但随着年龄的增长逐渐积累。最令人惊讶的是,细胞毒性 CD4 T 细胞和 aT 分别具有极端的促炎和抗炎表型。这些发现提供了一个全面的视角来看待 CD4 T 细胞环境随年龄的动态重组,并阐明了与慢性炎症和免疫下降相关的主要亚群,为与年龄相关的疾病提供了新的治疗途径。