Bajwa Joseph, Martha, Vita, Serena, Vescovini, Rosana, Larsen, Martin, Sansoni, Paolo, Terrazzini, Nadia, Caserta, Stefano, Thomas, David, Davies, Kevin A, Smith, Helen and Kern, Florian (2017) CMV-specific T-cell responses at older ages: broad responses with a large central memory component may be key to long-term survival. Journal of Infectious Diseases, 215 (8). pp. 1212-1220. ISSN 0022-1899

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Abstract

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection sometimes causes large expansions of CMV-specific T-cells, particularly in older people. This is believed to undermine immunity to other pathogens and to accelerate immunosenescence. While multiple different CMV proteins are recognized, most publications on age-related T-cell expansions have focused on dominant target proteins, UL83 or UL123, and the T-cell activation marker, IFN-γ. We were concerned that this narrow approach might have skewed our understanding of CMV-specific immunity at older ages. We have, therefore, widened the scope of analysis to include in vitro-induced T-cell responses to 19 frequently recognized CMV proteins in young and older healthy volunteers and a group of oldest old, long-term survivors (>85 years of age). Polychromatic flow-cytometry was used to analyze T-cell activation markers (CD107, CD154, IL-2, TNF, IFN-γ) and memory phenotype (CD27, CD45RA). The older had on average larger T-cell responses than the young, but, interestingly, response size differences were relatively smaller when all activation markers were considered rather than IFN-γ or TNF alone. The oldest old recognized more proteins on average than the other groups and had even bigger T-cell responses than the older with a significantly larger central memory CD4 T-cell component.

Item Type:	Article
Schools and Departments:	Brighton and Sussex Medical School > Brighton and Sussex Medical School Brighton and Sussex Medical School > Global Health and Infection Brighton and Sussex Medical School > Primary Care and Public Health Brighton and Sussex Medical School > Clinical and Experimental Medicine
Subjects:	R Medicine R Medicine > R Medicine (General)
Depositing User:	Sandy Gray
Date Deposited:	08 Feb 2017 08:53
Last Modified:	13 Feb 2018 02:00
URI:	http://srodev.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/66658

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