Hazeldine Jon, Withnall Edward, Llibre Alba, Duggal Niharika A, Lord Janet M, Sardeli Amanda V
Department of Inflammation and Aging, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.
Aging Cell. 2025 May 21;24(7):e70104. doi: 10.1111/acel.70104.
T-cell metabolism is a key regulator of immune function. Metabolic dysfunction in T cells from young mice results in an aged phenotype, accelerating immunosenescence. Physical activity (PA) maintains T-cell function and delays immunosenescence in older adults, but the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. We investigated the effects of PA on the metabolic and functional profiles at a single-cell resolution of resting and stimulated T cells from young adults (N = 9, 23 ± 3 years) and physically active older adults clustered between higher PA (HPA, N = 9, 75.5 ± 4.7 years) or lower PA levels (LPA, N = 10, 76.4 ± 2.1 years). Compared to young donors, HPA older adults had higher mitochondrial dependence (MD) and lower glucose dependence (GD) in unstimulated naïve, central memory (CM) and effector memory (EM) CD4 and EM CD8 T cells, while LPA older adults had higher overall protein synthesis in naïve and EM CD4 and CD8. In response to PMA and Ionomycin stimulation, there was a similar increase in GD and a reduction in MD across groups for most T-cell subsets. Although LPA and HPA underwent a higher increase in protein synthesis upon activation compared to the young subjects, HPA did not exhibit the excessive increase in the percentage of IL-6 T cells observed in the LPA group compared to young subjects. Taken together, our data provide evidence of a higher energy demand, impaired metabolic flexibility, and hyperinflammatory responses in aged T cells, and PA reduces metabolic demand in these cells, potentially through increased MD and improved metabolic flexibility.
T细胞代谢是免疫功能的关键调节因子。幼鼠T细胞中的代谢功能障碍会导致衰老表型,加速免疫衰老。体育活动(PA)可维持T细胞功能并延缓老年人的免疫衰老,但其潜在机制尚不清楚。我们以单细胞分辨率研究了PA对来自年轻成年人(N = 9,23±3岁)以及高PA水平(HPA,N = 9,75.5±4.7岁)或低PA水平(LPA,N = 10,76.4±2.1岁)的体育活动活跃的老年人的静息和刺激T细胞的代谢及功能特征的影响。与年轻供体相比,HPA组的老年人在未刺激的初始、中枢记忆(CM)和效应记忆(EM)CD4以及EM CD8 T细胞中具有更高的线粒体依赖性(MD)和更低的葡萄糖依赖性(GD),而LPA组的老年人在初始和EM CD4及CD8中具有更高的总体蛋白质合成。在佛波酯(PMA)和离子霉素刺激下,大多数T细胞亚群在各组中的GD均有类似增加,MD均有降低。尽管与年轻受试者相比,LPA和HPA组在激活后蛋白质合成增加幅度更大,但与年轻受试者相比,HPA组未表现出LPA组中观察到的IL-6 T细胞百分比的过度增加。综上所述,我们的数据证明了衰老T细胞中更高的能量需求、受损的代谢灵活性和炎症反应增强,而PA可能通过增加MD和改善代谢灵活性来降低这些细胞中的代谢需求。