Shemyakin and Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Moscow, Russia.
Privolzhsky Research Medical University, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia.
Nat Aging. 2021 Feb;1(2):179-189. doi: 10.1038/s43587-021-00029-3. Epub 2021 Feb 8.
A balanced immune response is a cornerstone of healthy aging. Here, we uncover distinctive features of the long-lived blind mole-rat (Spalax spp.) adaptive immune system, relative to humans and mice. The T-cell repertoire remains diverse throughout the Spalax lifespan, suggesting a paucity of large long-lived clones of effector-memory T cells. Expression of master transcription factors of T-cell differentiation, as well as checkpoint and cytotoxicity genes, remains low as Spalax ages. The thymus shrinks as in mice and humans, while interleukin-7 and interleukin-7 receptor expression remains high, potentially reflecting the sustained homeostasis of naive T cells. With aging, immunoglobulin hypermutation level does not increase and the immunoglobulin-M repertoire remains diverse, suggesting shorter B-cell memory and sustained homeostasis of innate-like B cells. The Spalax adaptive immune system thus appears biased towards sustained functional and receptor diversity over specialized, long-lived effector-memory clones-a unique organizational strategy that potentially underlies this animal's extraordinary longevity and healthy aging.
平衡的免疫反应是健康衰老的基石。在这里,我们揭示了与人类和小鼠相比,长寿盲鼹鼠(Spalax spp.)适应性免疫系统的独特特征。T 细胞库在整个盲鼹鼠的生命周期中保持多样化,表明效应记忆 T 细胞中缺乏大量长寿的克隆。随着盲鼹鼠衰老,T 细胞分化的主转录因子以及检查点和细胞毒性基因的表达仍然较低。胸腺像在小鼠和人类中一样缩小,而白细胞介素-7 和白细胞介素-7 受体的表达仍然很高,这可能反映了幼稚 T 细胞的持续体内平衡。随着衰老,免疫球蛋白超突变水平不会增加,免疫球蛋白-M 库仍然多样化,表明 B 细胞记忆较短,先天样 B 细胞的持续体内平衡。因此,盲鼹鼠的适应性免疫系统似乎偏向于维持功能和受体多样性,而不是专门的、长寿的效应记忆克隆——这是一种独特的组织策略,可能是这种动物非凡的长寿和健康衰老的基础。