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de Boer RJ, Tesselaar K, Borghans JAM. Better safe than sorry: Naive T-cell dynamics in healthy ageing. Semin Immunol 2023; 70:101839. [PMID: 37716048 DOI: 10.1016/j.smim.2023.101839] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/26/2023] [Revised: 09/01/2023] [Accepted: 09/02/2023] [Indexed: 09/18/2023]
Abstract
It is well-known that the functioning of the immune system gradually deteriorates with age, and we are increasingly confronted with its consequences as the life expectancy of the human population increases. Changes in the T-cell pool are among the most prominent features of the changing immune system during healthy ageing, and changes in the naive T-cell pool in particular are generally held responsible for its gradual deterioration. These changes in the naive T-cell pool are thought to be due to involution of the thymus. It is commonly believed that the gradual loss of thymic output induces compensatory mechanisms to maintain the number of naive T cells at a relatively constant level, and induces a loss of diversity in the T-cell repertoire. Here we review the studies that support or challenge this widely-held view of immune ageing and discuss the implications for vaccination strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rob J de Boer
- Theoretical Biology and Bioinformatics, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands
| | - Kiki Tesselaar
- Center for Translational Immunology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, the Netherlands
| | - José A M Borghans
- Center for Translational Immunology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
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2
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Caruso B, Moran AE. Thymic expression of immune checkpoint molecules and their implication for response to immunotherapies. Trends Cancer 2023:S2405-8033(23)00063-8. [PMID: 37173189 DOI: 10.1016/j.trecan.2023.04.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/20/2023] [Revised: 04/07/2023] [Accepted: 04/14/2023] [Indexed: 05/15/2023]
Abstract
The thymus is responsible for generating a diverse T cell repertoire that is tolerant to self, but capable of responding to various immunologic insults, including cancer. Checkpoint blockade has changed the face of cancer treatment by targeting inhibitory molecules, which are known to regulate peripheral T cell responses. However, these inhibitory molecules and their ligands are expressed during T cell development in the thymus. In this review, we describe the underappreciated role of checkpoint molecule expression during the formation of the T cell repertoire and detail the importance of inhibitory molecules in regulating T cell lineage commitment. Understanding how these molecules function in the thymus may inform therapeutic strategies for better patient outcomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Breanna Caruso
- Cell, Developmental and Cancer Biology, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR, USA
| | - Amy E Moran
- Cell, Developmental and Cancer Biology, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR, USA; Knight Cancer Institute, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR, USA.
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3
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Polesso F, Caruso B, Hammond SA, Moran AE. Restored Thymic Output after Androgen Blockade Participates in Antitumor Immunity. JOURNAL OF IMMUNOLOGY (BALTIMORE, MD. : 1950) 2023; 210:496-503. [PMID: 36548468 PMCID: PMC9898132 DOI: 10.4049/jimmunol.2200696] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/19/2022] [Accepted: 11/30/2022] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
The thymus is a hormone-sensitive organ, which involutes with age in response to production of sex steroids. Thymic involution leads to a decrease in the generation of recent thymic emigrants (RTEs), resulting in a reduced response to immune challenges such as cancer. Interestingly, the standard of care for prostate cancer patients is androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), which leads to thymic regeneration and an increase in thymic output. It remains unknown whether these newly produced T cells can contribute to the antitumor immune response. This study defines the kinetics of thymic regeneration in response to ADT in mice, determining that thymic epithelial cell proliferation is critical for the increase in RTE output. Using a mouse model to track RTE in vivo, we demonstrate that these newly generated RTEs can traffic to tumors, where they become activated and produce effector cytokines at levels similar to more mature T cells. Collectively, these data suggest that RTEs produced from ADT-induced thymic regeneration could be harnessed for the antitumor immune response.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fanny Polesso
- Cell, Developmental and Cancer Biology, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR
| | - Breanna Caruso
- Cell, Developmental and Cancer Biology, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR
| | - Scott A Hammond
- Discovery Biosciences, R&D Oncology, AstraZeneca, Gaithersburg, MD; and
| | - Amy E Moran
- Cell, Developmental and Cancer Biology, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR
- Knight Cancer Institute, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR
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4
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McCullough KM, Katrinli S, Hartmann J, Lori A, Klengel C, Missig G, Klengel T, Langford NA, Newman EL, Anderson KJ, Smith AK, Carroll FI, Ressler KJ, Carlezon WA. Blood levels of T-Cell Receptor Excision Circles (TRECs) provide an index of exposure to traumatic stress in mice and humans. Transl Psychiatry 2022; 12:423. [PMID: 36192377 PMCID: PMC9530209 DOI: 10.1038/s41398-022-02159-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/15/2022] [Revised: 09/05/2022] [Accepted: 09/07/2022] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Exposure to stress triggers biological changes throughout the body. Accumulating evidence indicates that alterations in immune system function are associated with the development of stress-associated illnesses such as major depressive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder, increasing interest in identifying immune markers that provide insight into mental health. Recombination events during T-cell receptor rearrangement and T-cell maturation in the thymus produce circular DNA fragments called T-cell receptor excision circles (TRECs) that can be utilized as indicators of thymic function and numbers of newly emigrating T-cells. Given data suggesting that stress affects thymus function, we examined whether blood levels of TRECs might serve as a quantitative peripheral index of cumulative stress exposure and its physiological correlates. We hypothesized that chronic stress exposure would compromise thymus function and produce corresponding decreases in levels of TRECs. In male mice, exposure to chronic social defeat stress (CSDS) produced thymic involution, adrenal hypertrophy, and decreased levels of TRECs in blood. Extending these studies to humans revealed robust inverse correlations between levels of circulating TRECs and childhood emotional and physical abuse. Cell-type specific analyses also revealed associations between TREC levels and blood cell composition, as well as cell-type specific methylation changes in CD4T + and CD8T + cells. Additionally, TREC levels correlated with epigenetic age acceleration, a common biomarker of stress exposure. Our findings demonstrate alignment between findings in mice and humans and suggest that blood-borne TRECs are a translationally-relevant biomarker that correlates with, and provides insight into, the cumulative physiological and immune-related impacts of stress exposure in mammals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kenneth M McCullough
- Basic Neuroscience Division, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA, USA
| | - Seyma Katrinli
- Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Jakob Hartmann
- Basic Neuroscience Division, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA, USA
| | - Adriana Lori
- Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Claudia Klengel
- Basic Neuroscience Division, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA, USA
| | - Galen Missig
- Basic Neuroscience Division, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA, USA
| | - Torsten Klengel
- Basic Neuroscience Division, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA, USA
| | - Nicole A Langford
- Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Emily L Newman
- Basic Neuroscience Division, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA, USA
| | - Kasey J Anderson
- Basic Neuroscience Division, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA, USA
| | - Alicia K Smith
- Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
- Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - F Ivy Carroll
- Center for Organic and Medicinal Chemistry, Research Triangle Institute, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA
| | - Kerry J Ressler
- Basic Neuroscience Division, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA, USA
- Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - William A Carlezon
- Basic Neuroscience Division, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA, USA.
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5
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Kawabe T, Ciucci T, Kim KS, Tayama S, Kawajiri A, Suzuki T, Tanaka R, Ishii N, Jankovic D, Zhu J, Sprent J, Bosselut R, Sher A. Redefining the Foreign Antigen and Self-Driven Memory CD4 + T-Cell Compartments via Transcriptomic, Phenotypic, and Functional Analyses. Front Immunol 2022; 13:870542. [PMID: 35707543 PMCID: PMC9190281 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.870542] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/07/2022] [Accepted: 04/29/2022] [Indexed: 01/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Under steady-state conditions, conventional CD4+ T lymphocytes are classically divided into naïve (CD44lo CD62Lhi) and memory (CD44hi CD62Llo) cell compartments. While the latter population is presumed to comprise a mixture of distinct subpopulations of explicit foreign antigen (Ag)-specific “authentic” memory and foreign Ag-independent memory-phenotype (MP) cells, phenotypic markers differentially expressed in these two cell types have yet to be identified. Moreover, while MP cells themselves have been previously described as heterogeneous, it is unknown whether they consist of distinct subsets defined by marker expression. In this study, we demonstrate using combined single-cell RNA sequencing and flow cytometric approaches that self-driven MP CD4+ T lymphocytes are divided into CD127hi Sca1lo, CD127hi Sca1hi, CD127lo Sca1hi, and CD127lo Sca1lo subpopulations that are Bcl2lo, while foreign Ag-specific memory cells are CD127hi Sca1hi Bcl2hi. We further show that among the four MP subsets, CD127hi Sca1hi lymphocytes represent the most mature and cell division-experienced subpopulation derived from peripheral naïve precursors. Finally, we provide evidence arguing that this MP subpopulation exerts the highest responsiveness to Th1-differentiating cytokines and can induce colitis. Together, our findings define MP CD4+ T lymphocytes as a unique, self-driven population consisting of distinct subsets that differ from conventional foreign Ag-specific memory cells in marker expression and establish functional relevance for the mature subset of CD127hi Sca1hi MP cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Takeshi Kawabe
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan.,Immunobiology Section, Laboratory of Parasitic Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States
| | - Thomas Ciucci
- Laboratory of Immune Cell Biology, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States.,David H. Smith Center for Vaccine Biology and Immunology, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, United States
| | - Kwang Soon Kim
- Department of Integrative Biosciences and Biotechnology, Pohang University of Science and Technology, Pohang, South Korea
| | - Shunichi Tayama
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan
| | - Akihisa Kawajiri
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan
| | - Takumi Suzuki
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan
| | - Riou Tanaka
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan
| | - Naoto Ishii
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan
| | - Dragana Jankovic
- Immunobiology Section, Laboratory of Parasitic Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States
| | - Jinfang Zhu
- Molecular and Cellular Immunoregulation Section, Laboratory of Immune System Biology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States
| | - Jonathan Sprent
- Immunology Division, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Darlinghurst, NSW, Australia.,St. Vincent's Clinical School, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Rémy Bosselut
- Laboratory of Immune Cell Biology, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States
| | - Alan Sher
- Immunobiology Section, Laboratory of Parasitic Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States
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6
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Hester AK, Semwal MK, Cepeda S, Xiao Y, Rueda M, Wimberly K, Venables T, Dileepan T, Kraig E, Griffith AV. Redox regulation of age-associated defects in generation and maintenance of T cell self-tolerance and immunity to foreign antigens. Cell Rep 2022; 38:110363. [PMID: 35172147 PMCID: PMC8898380 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2022.110363] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2020] [Revised: 11/22/2021] [Accepted: 01/19/2022] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Thymic atrophy reduces naive T cell production and contributes to increased susceptibility to viral infection with age. Expression of tissue-restricted antigen (TRA) genes also declines with age and has been thought to increase autoimmune disease susceptibility. We find that diminished expression of a model TRA gene in aged thymic stromal cells correlates with impaired clonal deletion of cognate T cells recognizing an autoantigen involved in atherosclerosis. Clonal deletion in the polyclonal thymocyte population is also perturbed. Distinct age-associated defects in the generation of antigen-specific T cells include a conspicuous decline in generation of T cells recognizing an immunodominant influenza epitope. Increased catalase activity delays thymic atrophy, and here, we show that it mitigates declining production of influenza-specific T cells and their frequency in lung after infection, but does not reverse declines in TRA expression or efficient negative selection. These results reveal important considerations for strategies to restore thymic function.
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Affiliation(s)
- Allison K Hester
- Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics, University of Texas Long School of Medicine, UT Health San Antonio, San Antonio, TX 78229, USA
| | - Manpreet K Semwal
- Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics, University of Texas Long School of Medicine, UT Health San Antonio, San Antonio, TX 78229, USA
| | - Sergio Cepeda
- Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics, University of Texas Long School of Medicine, UT Health San Antonio, San Antonio, TX 78229, USA
| | - Yangming Xiao
- Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics, University of Texas Long School of Medicine, UT Health San Antonio, San Antonio, TX 78229, USA
| | - Meghan Rueda
- Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics, University of Texas Long School of Medicine, UT Health San Antonio, San Antonio, TX 78229, USA
| | - Kymberly Wimberly
- Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics, University of Texas Long School of Medicine, UT Health San Antonio, San Antonio, TX 78229, USA
| | | | - Thamotharampillai Dileepan
- Center for Immunology, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA; Department of Microbiology, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
| | - Ellen Kraig
- Department of Cell Systems and Anatomy, University of Texas Long School of Medicine, UT Health San Antonio, San Antonio, TX 78229, USA
| | - Ann V Griffith
- Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics, University of Texas Long School of Medicine, UT Health San Antonio, San Antonio, TX 78229, USA.
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7
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Cheremokhin DA, Shinwari K, Deryabina SS, Bolkov MA, Tuzankina IA, Kudlay DA. Analysis of the TREC and KREC Levels in the Dried Blood Spots of Healthy Newborns with Different Gestational Ages and Weights. Acta Naturae 2022; 14:101-108. [PMID: 35441044 PMCID: PMC9013433 DOI: 10.32607/actanaturae.11501] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/04/2021] [Accepted: 01/12/2022] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Inborn errors of immunity can be detected by evaluating circular DNA (cDNA)
fragments of T- and B-cell receptors (TREC and KREC) resulting from the
receptor gene rearrangement in T and B cells. Maturation and activation of the
fetal immune system is known to proceed gradually according to the gestational
age, which highlights the importance of the immune status in premature infants
at different gestational ages. In this article, we evaluated TREC and KREC
levels in infants of various gestational ages by real-time PCR with taking into
account the newborn’s weight and sex. The 95% confidence intervals for
TREC and KREC levels (expressed in the number of cDNA copies per 105 cells)
were established for different gestational groups. The importance of studying
immune system development in newborns is informed by the discovered dependence
of the level of naive markers on the gestational stage in the early neonatal
period.
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Affiliation(s)
- D. A. Cheremokhin
- Institute of Immunology and Physiology of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Yekaterinburg, 620049 Russia
- Medical Center “Healthcare of mother and child”, Yekaterinburg, 620041 Russia
| | - K. Shinwari
- Department of Immunochemistry, Institute of Chemical Engineering of the Ural Federal University, Yekaterinburg, 620083 Russia
| | - S. S. Deryabina
- Institute of Immunology and Physiology of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Yekaterinburg, 620049 Russia
- Medical Center “Healthcare of mother and child”, Yekaterinburg, 620041 Russia
- Department of Immunochemistry, Institute of Chemical Engineering of the Ural Federal University, Yekaterinburg, 620083 Russia
| | - M. A. Bolkov
- Institute of Immunology and Physiology of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Yekaterinburg, 620049 Russia
- Department of Immunochemistry, Institute of Chemical Engineering of the Ural Federal University, Yekaterinburg, 620083 Russia
| | - I. A. Tuzankina
- Institute of Immunology and Physiology of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Yekaterinburg, 620049 Russia
- Department of Immunochemistry, Institute of Chemical Engineering of the Ural Federal University, Yekaterinburg, 620083 Russia
| | - D. A. Kudlay
- I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University (Sechenov University), Moscow, 119991 Russia
- National Research Center, Institute of Immunology Federal Medical-Biological Agency of Russia, Moscow, 115522 Russia
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8
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Emmrich S, Tolibzoda Zakusilo F, Trapp A, Zhou X, Zhang Q, Irving EM, Drage MG, Zhang Z, Gladyshev VN, Seluanov A, Gorbunova V. Ectopic cervical thymi and no thymic involution until midlife in naked mole rats. Aging Cell 2021; 20:e13477. [PMID: 34596321 PMCID: PMC8520710 DOI: 10.1111/acel.13477] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/12/2021] [Revised: 08/10/2021] [Accepted: 08/28/2021] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Immunosenescence is a hallmark of aging and manifests as increased susceptibility to infection, autoimmunity, and cancer in the elderly. One component of immunosenescence is thymic involution, age-associated shrinkage of the thymus, observed in all vertebrates studied to date. The naked mole rat (Heterocephalus glaber) has become an attractive animal model in aging research due to its extreme longevity and resistance to disease. Here, we show that naked mole rats display no thymic involution up to 11 years of age. Furthermore, we found large ectopic cervical thymi in addition to the canonical thoracic thymus, both being identical in their cell composition. The developmental landscape in naked mole rat thymi revealed overt differences from the murine T-cell compartment, most notably a decrease of CD4+ /CD8+ double-positive cells and lower abundance of cytotoxic effector T cells. Our observations suggest that naked mole rats display a delayed immunosenescence. Therapeutic interventions aimed at reversing thymic aging remain limited, underscoring the importance of understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms behind a sustained immune function in the naked mole rat.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Xuming Zhou
- CAS Key Laboratory of Animal Ecology and Conservation BiologyInstitute of ZoologyChinese Academy of SciencesBeijingChina
| | - Quanwei Zhang
- Department of GeneticsAlbert Einstein College of MedicineNew York CityNYUSA
| | | | - Michael G. Drage
- Pathology and Laboratory MedicineUniversity of Rochester Medical CenterRochesterNYUSA
| | - Zhengdong Zhang
- Department of GeneticsAlbert Einstein College of MedicineNew York CityNYUSA
| | - Vadim N. Gladyshev
- Division of GeneticsDepartment of MedicineBrigham and Women’s HospitalHarvard Medical SchoolBostonMAUSA
| | | | - Vera Gorbunova
- Department of BiologyUniversity of RochesterRochesterNYUSA
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9
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Stojić-Vukanić Z, Pilipović I, Arsenović-Ranin N, Dimitrijević M, Leposavić G. Sex-specific remodeling of T-cell compartment with aging: Implications for rat susceptibility to central nervous system autoimmune diseases. Immunol Lett 2021; 239:42-59. [PMID: 34418487 DOI: 10.1016/j.imlet.2021.08.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2021] [Revised: 06/12/2021] [Accepted: 08/12/2021] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
The incidence of multiple sclerosis (MS) and susceptibility of animals to experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), the most commonly used experimental model of MS, decrease with aging. Generally, autoimmune diseases develop as the ultimate outcome of an imbalance between damaging immune responses against self and regulatory immune responses (keeping the former under control). Thus, in this review the age-related changes possibly underlying this balance were discussed. Specifically, considering the central role of T cells in MS/EAE, the impact of aging on overall functional capacity (reflecting both overall count and individual functional cell properties) of self-reactive conventional T cells (Tcons) and FoxP3+ regulatory T cells (Tregs), as the most potent immunoregulatory/suppressive cells, was analyzed, as well. The analysis encompasses three distinct compartments: thymus (the primary lymphoid organ responsible for the elimination of self-reactive T cells - negative selection and the generation of Tregs, compensating for imperfections of the negative selection), peripheral blood/lymphoid tissues ("afferent" compartment), and brain/spinal cord tissues ("target" compartment). Given that the incidence of MS and susceptibility of animals to EAE are greater in women/females than in age-matched men/males, sex as independent variable was also considered. In conclusion, with aging, sex-specific alterations in the balance of self-reactive Tcons/Tregs are likely to occur not only in the thymus/"afferent" compartment, but also in the "target" compartment, reflecting multifaceted changes in both T-cell types. Their in depth understanding is important not only for envisaging effects of aging, but also for designing interventions to slow-down aging without any adverse effect on incidence of autoimmune diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zorica Stojić-Vukanić
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Belgrade - Faculty of Pharmacy, Belgrade, Serbia
| | - Ivan Pilipović
- Immunology Research Centre "Branislav Janković", Institute of Virology, Vaccines and Sera "Torlak", Belgrade, Serbia
| | - Nevena Arsenović-Ranin
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Belgrade - Faculty of Pharmacy, Belgrade, Serbia
| | - Mirjana Dimitrijević
- Department of Immunology, University of Belgrade - Institute for Biological Research "Siniša Stanković" - National Institute of Republic of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia
| | - Gordana Leposavić
- Department of Pathobiology, University of Belgrade - Faculty of Pharmacy, Belgrade, Serbia.
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10
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Wu T, Plett PA, Chua HL, Jacobsen M, Sandusky GE, MacVittie TJ, Orschell CM. Immune Reconstitution and Thymic Involution in the Acute and Delayed Hematopoietic Radiation Syndromes. HEALTH PHYSICS 2020; 119:647-658. [PMID: 32947490 PMCID: PMC7541734 DOI: 10.1097/hp.0000000000001352] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/04/2023]
Abstract
Lymphoid lineage recovery and involution after exposure to potentially lethal doses of ionizing radiation have not been well defined, especially the long-term effects in aged survivors and with regard to male/female differences. To examine these questions, male and female C57BL/6 mice were exposed to lethal radiation at 12 wk of age in a model of the Hematopoietic-Acute Radiation Syndrome, and bone marrow, thymus, spleen, and peripheral blood examined up to 24 mo of age for the lymphopoietic delayed effects of acute radiation exposure. Aged mice showed myeloid skewing and incomplete lymphocyte recovery in all lymphoid tissues. Spleen and peripheral blood both exhibited a monophasic recovery pattern, while thymus demonstrated a biphasic pattern. Naïve T cells in blood and spleen and all subsets of thymocytes were decreased in aged irradiated mice compared to age-matched non-irradiated controls. Of interest, irradiated males experienced significantly improved reconstitution of thymocyte subsets and peripheral blood elements compared to females. Bone marrow from aged irradiated survivors was significantly deficient in the primitive lymphoid-primed multipotent progenitors and common lymphoid progenitors, which were only 8-10% of levels in aged-matched non-irradiated controls. Taken together, these analyses define significant age- and sex-related deficiencies at all levels of lymphopoiesis throughout the lifespan of survivors of the Hematopoietic-Acute Radiation Syndrome and may provide a murine model suitable for assessing the efficacy of potential medical countermeasures and therapeutic strategies to alleviate the severe immune suppression that occurs after radiation exposure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tong Wu
- Department of Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN
| | - P. Artur Plett
- Department of Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN
| | - Hui Lin Chua
- Department of Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN
| | - Max Jacobsen
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN
| | - George E. Sandusky
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN
| | - Thomas J. MacVittie
- Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD
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11
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Pan XH, Lin QK, Yao X, Li ZA, Cai XM, Pang RQ, Ruan GP. Umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells protect thymus structure and function in aged C57 mice by downregulating aging-related genes and upregulating autophagy- and anti-oxidative stress-related genes. Aging (Albany NY) 2020; 12:16899-16920. [PMID: 32924972 PMCID: PMC7521525 DOI: 10.18632/aging.103594] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/20/2020] [Accepted: 06/13/2020] [Indexed: 01/24/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND To study the effect of allogeneic umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cell transplantation on the structure and function of the thymus in aged C57 mice and provide a new method for the treatment of senile thymic atrophy. RESULTS The changes in the thymus cortex and medulla volume and the lymphocyte ratio were analyzed by immunofluorescence. For thymus tissue sections, immunohistochemical staining was performed to detect p16, p53, SOD, becline1, LC3b, p62, sirt1, and sirt3. Changes in CK5, CK8, CD4 and CD8 expression were observed. Treatment with mUCMSCs could promote hair regeneration in aging mice and regenerate the thymus structure. CONCLUSIONS mUCMSCs inhibited senescence of the thymus and promoted structural and functional thymus regeneration by downregulating the senescence genes p53 and p16 and upregulating the SOD, Sirt1 and Sirt3 genes, but the mechanism requires further research. METHODS C57 mice were obtained and met the requirements of thymic aging. mUCMSCs were infused via the tail vein at a dose of 1×107 cells/kg twice per week for 3 weeks. Six weeks after the last transplantation, the thymus was weighed, and the thymus-to-body weight ratio was calculated. The thymus tissue was stained with HE.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xing-Hua Pan
- Kunming Key Laboratory of Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, 920th Hospital of The PLA Joint Logistics Support Force, Kunming, Yunnan Province, China,Stem Cell and Immune Cell Biomedical Techniques Integrated Engineering Laboratory of States and Regions, Kunming, Yunnan Province, China,Cell Therapy Technology Transfer Medical Key Laboratory of Yunnan Province, Kunming, Yunnan Province, China
| | - Qing-Keng Lin
- Kunming Key Laboratory of Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, 920th Hospital of The PLA Joint Logistics Support Force, Kunming, Yunnan Province, China,Stem Cell and Immune Cell Biomedical Techniques Integrated Engineering Laboratory of States and Regions, Kunming, Yunnan Province, China,Cell Therapy Technology Transfer Medical Key Laboratory of Yunnan Province, Kunming, Yunnan Province, China
| | - Xiang Yao
- Kunming Key Laboratory of Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, 920th Hospital of The PLA Joint Logistics Support Force, Kunming, Yunnan Province, China,Stem Cell and Immune Cell Biomedical Techniques Integrated Engineering Laboratory of States and Regions, Kunming, Yunnan Province, China,Cell Therapy Technology Transfer Medical Key Laboratory of Yunnan Province, Kunming, Yunnan Province, China
| | - Zi-An Li
- Kunming Key Laboratory of Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, 920th Hospital of The PLA Joint Logistics Support Force, Kunming, Yunnan Province, China,Stem Cell and Immune Cell Biomedical Techniques Integrated Engineering Laboratory of States and Regions, Kunming, Yunnan Province, China,Cell Therapy Technology Transfer Medical Key Laboratory of Yunnan Province, Kunming, Yunnan Province, China
| | - Xue-Min Cai
- Kunming Key Laboratory of Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, 920th Hospital of The PLA Joint Logistics Support Force, Kunming, Yunnan Province, China,Stem Cell and Immune Cell Biomedical Techniques Integrated Engineering Laboratory of States and Regions, Kunming, Yunnan Province, China,Cell Therapy Technology Transfer Medical Key Laboratory of Yunnan Province, Kunming, Yunnan Province, China
| | - Rong-Qing Pang
- Kunming Key Laboratory of Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, 920th Hospital of The PLA Joint Logistics Support Force, Kunming, Yunnan Province, China,Stem Cell and Immune Cell Biomedical Techniques Integrated Engineering Laboratory of States and Regions, Kunming, Yunnan Province, China,Cell Therapy Technology Transfer Medical Key Laboratory of Yunnan Province, Kunming, Yunnan Province, China
| | - Guang-Ping Ruan
- Kunming Key Laboratory of Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, 920th Hospital of The PLA Joint Logistics Support Force, Kunming, Yunnan Province, China,Stem Cell and Immune Cell Biomedical Techniques Integrated Engineering Laboratory of States and Regions, Kunming, Yunnan Province, China,Cell Therapy Technology Transfer Medical Key Laboratory of Yunnan Province, Kunming, Yunnan Province, China
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12
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Lavaert M, Valcke B, Vandekerckhove B, Leclercq G, Liang KL, Taghon T. Conventional and Computational Flow Cytometry Analyses Reveal Sustained Human Intrathymic T Cell Development From Birth Until Puberty. Front Immunol 2020; 11:1659. [PMID: 32849574 PMCID: PMC7417369 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2020.01659] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/20/2020] [Accepted: 06/22/2020] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The thymus is the organ where subsets of mature T cells are generated which subsequently egress to function as central mediators in the immune system. While continuously generating T cells even into adulthood, the thymus does undergo involution during life. This is characterized by an initial rapid decrease in thymic cellularity during early life and by a second age-dependent decline in adulthood. The thymic cellularity of neonates remains low during the first month after birth and the tissue reaches a maximum in cellularity at 6 months of age. In order to study the effect that this first phase of thymic involution has on thymic immune subset frequencies, we performed multi-color flow cytometry on thymic samples collected from birth to 14 years of age. In consideration of the inherent limitations posed by conventional flow cytometry analysis, we established a novel computational analysis pipeline that is adapted from single-cell transcriptome sequencing data analysis. This allowed us to overcome technical effects by batch correction, analyze multiple samples simultaneously, limit computational cost by subsampling, and to rely on KNN-graphs for graph-based clustering. As a result, we successfully identified rare, distinct and gradually developing immune subsets within the human thymus tissues. Although the thymus undergoes early involution from infanthood onwards, our data suggests that this does not affect human T-cell development as we did not observe significant alterations in the proportions of T-lineage developmental intermediates from birth to puberty. Thus, in addition to providing an interesting novel strategy to analyze conventional flow cytometry data for the thymus, our work shows that the early phase of human thymic involution mainly limits the overall T cell output since no obvious changes in thymocyte subsets could be observed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marieke Lavaert
- Department of Diagnostic Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Brecht Valcke
- Department of Diagnostic Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Bart Vandekerckhove
- Department of Diagnostic Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Georges Leclercq
- Department of Diagnostic Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Kai Ling Liang
- Department of Diagnostic Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Tom Taghon
- Department of Diagnostic Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
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13
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Kwok JSY, Cheung SKF, Ho JCY, Tang IWH, Chu PWK, Leung EYS, Lee PPW, Cheuk DKL, Lee V, Ip P, Lau YL. Establishing Simultaneous T Cell Receptor Excision Circles (TREC) and K-Deleting Recombination Excision Circles (KREC) Quantification Assays and Laboratory Reference Intervals in Healthy Individuals of Different Age Groups in Hong Kong. Front Immunol 2020; 11:1411. [PMID: 32765500 PMCID: PMC7378446 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2020.01411] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/08/2020] [Accepted: 06/02/2020] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
The clinical experience gathered throughout the years has raised awareness of primary immunodeficiency diseases (PIDD). T cell receptor excision circles (TREC) and kappa-deleting recombination excision circles (KREC) assays for thymic and bone marrow outputs measurement have been widely implemented in newborn screening (NBS) programs for Severe Combined Immunodeficiency. The potential applications of combined TREC and KREC assay in PIDD diagnosis and immune reconstitution monitoring in non-neonatal patients have been suggested. Given that ethnicity, gender, and age can contribute to variations in immunity, defining the reference intervals of TREC and KREC levels in the local population is crucial for setting up cut-offs for PIDD diagnosis. In this retrospective study, 479 healthy Chinese sibling donors (240 males and 239 females; age range: 1 month-74 years) from Hong Kong were tested for TREC and KREC levels using a simultaneous quantitative real-time PCR assay. Age-specific 5th-95th percentile reference intervals of TREC and KREC levels (expressed in copies per μL blood and copies per 106 cells) were established in both pediatric and adult age groups. Significant inverse correlations between age and both TREC and KREC levels were observed in the pediatric age group. A significant higher KREC level was observed in females than males after 9-12 years of age but not for TREC. Low TREC or KREC levels were detected in patients diagnosed with mild or severe PIDD. This assay with the established local reference intervals would allow accurate diagnosis of PIDD, and potentially monitoring immune reconstitution following haematopoietic stem cell transplantation or highly active anti-retroviral therapy in the future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Janette S. Y. Kwok
- Division of Transplantation and Immunogenetics, Department of Pathology, Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong, Hong Kong
| | - Stephen K. F. Cheung
- Division of Transplantation and Immunogenetics, Department of Pathology, Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong, Hong Kong
| | - Jenny C. Y. Ho
- Division of Transplantation and Immunogenetics, Department of Pathology, Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong, Hong Kong
| | - Ivan W. H. Tang
- Division of Transplantation and Immunogenetics, Department of Pathology, Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong, Hong Kong
| | - Patrick W. K. Chu
- Division of Transplantation and Immunogenetics, Department of Pathology, Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong, Hong Kong
| | - Eric Y. S. Leung
- Division of Transplantation and Immunogenetics, Department of Pathology, Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong, Hong Kong
| | - Pamela P. W. Lee
- Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong
| | - Daniel K. L. Cheuk
- Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong
| | - Vincent Lee
- Department of Paediatrics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong
| | - Patrick Ip
- Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong
| | - Y. L. Lau
- Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong
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14
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Mutations in topoisomerase IIβ result in a B cell immunodeficiency. Nat Commun 2019; 10:3644. [PMID: 31409799 PMCID: PMC6692411 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-11570-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/23/2018] [Accepted: 07/23/2019] [Indexed: 02/01/2023] Open
Abstract
B cell development is a highly regulated process involving multiple differentiation steps, yet many details regarding this pathway remain unknown. Sequencing of patients with B cell-restricted immunodeficiency reveals autosomal dominant mutations in TOP2B. TOP2B encodes a type II topoisomerase, an essential gene required to alleviate topological stress during DNA replication and gene transcription, with no previously known role in B cell development. We use Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and knockin and knockout murine models, to demonstrate that patient mutations in TOP2B have a dominant negative effect on enzyme function, resulting in defective proliferation, survival of B-2 cells, causing a block in B cell development, and impair humoral function in response to immunization. Topoisomerases are required to release topological stress on DNA during replication and transcription. Here, Broderick et al. report genetic variants in TOP2B that cause a syndromic B cell immunodeficiency associated with reduced TOP2B function, defects in B cell development and B cell activation.
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15
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Zheng Z, Ai J, Guo L, Ye X, Bondada S, Howatt D, Daugherty A, Li XA. SR-BI (Scavenger Receptor Class B Type 1) Is Critical in Maintaining Normal T-Cell Development and Enhancing Thymic Regeneration. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol 2019; 38:2706-2717. [PMID: 30354229 DOI: 10.1161/atvbaha.118.311728] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Objective- Continuous T-cell production from thymus is essential in replenishing naïve T-cell pool and maintaining optimal T-cell functions. However, the underlying mechanisms regulating the T-cell development in thymus remains largely unknown. Approach and Results- We identified SR-BI (scavenger receptor class B type 1), an HDL (high-density lipoprotein) receptor, as a novel modulator in T-cell development. We found that SR-BI deficiency in mice led to reduced thymus size and decreased T-cell production, which was accompanied by narrowed peripheral naïve T-cell pool. Further investigation revealed that SR-BI deficiency impaired progenitor thymic homing, causing a dramatic reduction in the percentage of earliest thymic progenitors, but did not affect other downstream T-cell developmental steps inside the thymus. As a result of the impaired progenitor thymic homing, SR-BI-deficient mice displayed delayed thymic regeneration postirradiation. Using a variety of experimental approaches, we revealed that the impaired T-cell development in SR-BI-deficient mice was not caused by hematopoietic SR-BI deficiency or SR-BI deficiency-induced hypercholesterolemia, but mainly attributed to the SR-BI deficiency in adrenal glands, as adrenal-specific SR-BI-deficient mice exhibited similar defects in T-cell development and thymic regeneration with SR-BI-deficient mice. Conclusions- This study demonstrates that SR-BI deficiency impaired T-cell development and delayed thymic regeneration by affecting progenitor thymic homing in mice, elucidating a previously unrecognized link between SR-BI and adaptive immunity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhong Zheng
- From the Department of Pharmacology and Nutritional Sciences (Z.Z., J.A., X.-A.L.), University of Kentucky College of Medicine, Lexington.,Saha Cardiovascular Research Center (Z.Z., J.A., L.G., X.Y., D.H., A.D., X.-A.L.), University of Kentucky College of Medicine, Lexington
| | - Junting Ai
- From the Department of Pharmacology and Nutritional Sciences (Z.Z., J.A., X.-A.L.), University of Kentucky College of Medicine, Lexington.,Saha Cardiovascular Research Center (Z.Z., J.A., L.G., X.Y., D.H., A.D., X.-A.L.), University of Kentucky College of Medicine, Lexington
| | - Ling Guo
- Saha Cardiovascular Research Center (Z.Z., J.A., L.G., X.Y., D.H., A.D., X.-A.L.), University of Kentucky College of Medicine, Lexington
| | - Xiang Ye
- Saha Cardiovascular Research Center (Z.Z., J.A., L.G., X.Y., D.H., A.D., X.-A.L.), University of Kentucky College of Medicine, Lexington
| | - Subbarao Bondada
- Department of Microbiology (S.B.), University of Kentucky College of Medicine, Lexington
| | - Deborah Howatt
- Saha Cardiovascular Research Center (Z.Z., J.A., L.G., X.Y., D.H., A.D., X.-A.L.), University of Kentucky College of Medicine, Lexington
| | - Alan Daugherty
- Saha Cardiovascular Research Center (Z.Z., J.A., L.G., X.Y., D.H., A.D., X.-A.L.), University of Kentucky College of Medicine, Lexington.,Department of Physiology (A.D., X.-A.L.), University of Kentucky College of Medicine, Lexington
| | - Xiang-An Li
- From the Department of Pharmacology and Nutritional Sciences (Z.Z., J.A., X.-A.L.), University of Kentucky College of Medicine, Lexington.,Saha Cardiovascular Research Center (Z.Z., J.A., L.G., X.Y., D.H., A.D., X.-A.L.), University of Kentucky College of Medicine, Lexington.,Department of Physiology (A.D., X.-A.L.), University of Kentucky College of Medicine, Lexington
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16
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Chang MR, Ciesla A, Strutzenberg TS, Novick SJ, He Y, Garcia-Ordonez RD, Frkic RL, Bruning JB, Kamenecka TM, Griffin PR. Unique Polypharmacology Nuclear Receptor Modulator Blocks Inflammatory Signaling Pathways. ACS Chem Biol 2019; 14:1051-1062. [PMID: 30951276 DOI: 10.1021/acschembio.9b00236] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
Obesity and rheumatic disease are mechanistically linked via chronic inflammation. The orphan receptor TREM-1 (triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells-1) is a potent amplifier of proinflammatory and noninfectious immune responses. Here, we show that the pan modulator SR1903 effectively blocks TREM-1 activation. SR1903 emerged from a chemical series of potent RORγ inverse agonists, although unlike close structural analogues, it has modest agonist activity on LXR and weak repressive activity (inverse agonism) of PPARγ, three receptors that play essential roles in inflammation and metabolism. The anti-inflammatory and antidiabetic efficacy of this unique modulator in collagen-induced arthritis and diet-induced obesity mouse models is demonstrated. Interestingly, in the context of obesity, SR1903 aided in the maintenance of the thymic homeostasis unlike selective RORγ inverse agonists. SR1903 was well-tolerated following chronic administration, and combined, these data suggest that it may represent a viable strategy for treatment of both metabolic and inflammatory disease. More importantly, the ability of SR1903 to block LPS signaling suggests the potential utility of this unique polypharmacological modulator for treatment of innate immune response disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mi Ra Chang
- Department of Molecular Medicine, The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, Florida 33458, United States
| | - Anthony Ciesla
- Department of Molecular Medicine, The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, Florida 33458, United States
| | - Timothy S. Strutzenberg
- Department of Molecular Medicine, The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, Florida 33458, United States
| | - Scott J. Novick
- Department of Molecular Medicine, The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, Florida 33458, United States
| | - Yuanjun He
- Department of Molecular Medicine, The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, Florida 33458, United States
| | - Ruben D. Garcia-Ordonez
- Department of Molecular Medicine, The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, Florida 33458, United States
| | - Rebecca L. Frkic
- Institute for Photonics & Advanced Sensing (IPAS), School of Biological Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia
| | - John B. Bruning
- Institute for Photonics & Advanced Sensing (IPAS), School of Biological Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia
| | - Theodore M. Kamenecka
- Department of Molecular Medicine, The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, Florida 33458, United States
| | - Patrick R. Griffin
- Department of Molecular Medicine, The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, Florida 33458, United States
- Department of Integrative Structural and Computational Biology, The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, Florida 33458, United States
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17
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Fu J, Zuber J, Martinez M, Shonts B, Obradovic A, Wang H, Lau SP, Xia A, Waffarn EE, Frangaj K, Savage TM, Simpson MT, Yang S, Guo XV, Miron M, Senda T, Rogers K, Rahman A, Ho SH, Shen Y, Griesemer A, Farber DL, Kato T, Sykes M. Human Intestinal Allografts Contain Functional Hematopoietic Stem and Progenitor Cells that Are Maintained by a Circulating Pool. Cell Stem Cell 2019; 24:227-239.e8. [PMID: 30503142 PMCID: PMC6398344 DOI: 10.1016/j.stem.2018.11.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2018] [Revised: 07/20/2018] [Accepted: 11/02/2018] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
Human intestinal transplantation often results in long-term mixed chimerism of donor and recipient blood in transplant patients. We followed the phenotypes of chimeric peripheral blood cells in 21 patients receiving intestinal allografts over 5 years. Donor lymphocyte phenotypes suggested a contribution of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) from the graft. Surprisingly, we detected donor-derived HSPCs in intestinal mucosa, Peyer's patches, mesenteric lymph nodes, and liver. Human gut HSPCs are phenotypically similar to bone marrow HSPCs and have multilineage differentiation potential in vitro and in vivo. Analysis of circulating post-transplant donor T cells suggests that they undergo selection in recipient lymphoid organs to acquire immune tolerance. Our longitudinal study of human HSPCs carried in intestinal allografts demonstrates their turnover kinetics and gradual replacement of donor-derived HSPCs from a circulating pool. Thus, we have demonstrated the existence of functioning HSPCs in human intestines with implications for promoting tolerance in transplant recipients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jianing Fu
- Columbia Center for Translational Immunology, Department of Medicine, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA
| | - Julien Zuber
- Columbia Center for Translational Immunology, Department of Medicine, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA
| | - Mercedes Martinez
- Department of Pediatrics, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA
| | - Brittany Shonts
- Columbia Center for Translational Immunology, Department of Medicine, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA
| | - Aleksandar Obradovic
- Columbia Center for Translational Immunology, Department of Medicine, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA
| | - Hui Wang
- Columbia Center for Translational Immunology, Department of Medicine, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA
| | - Sai-Ping Lau
- Columbia Center for Translational Immunology, Department of Medicine, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA
| | - Amy Xia
- Columbia Center for Translational Immunology, Department of Medicine, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA
| | - Elizabeth E Waffarn
- Columbia Center for Translational Immunology, Department of Medicine, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA
| | - Kristjana Frangaj
- Columbia Center for Translational Immunology, Department of Medicine, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA
| | - Thomas M Savage
- Columbia Center for Translational Immunology, Department of Medicine, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA
| | - Michael T Simpson
- Columbia Center for Translational Immunology, Department of Medicine, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA
| | - Suxiao Yang
- Columbia Center for Translational Immunology, Department of Medicine, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA
| | - Xinzheng V Guo
- Human Immune Monitoring Center, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA
| | - Michelle Miron
- Columbia Center for Translational Immunology, Department of Medicine, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA; Department of Microbiology & Immunology, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA
| | - Takashi Senda
- Columbia Center for Translational Immunology, Department of Medicine, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA; Department of Surgery, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA
| | - Kortney Rogers
- Columbia Center for Translational Immunology, Department of Medicine, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA
| | - Adeeb Rahman
- Human Immune Monitoring Center, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA
| | - Siu-Hong Ho
- Columbia Center for Translational Immunology, Department of Medicine, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA
| | - Yufeng Shen
- Center for Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, Department of Systems Biology, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA
| | - Adam Griesemer
- Columbia Center for Translational Immunology, Department of Medicine, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA; Department of Surgery, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA
| | - Donna L Farber
- Columbia Center for Translational Immunology, Department of Medicine, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA; Department of Microbiology & Immunology, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA; Department of Surgery, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA
| | - Tomoaki Kato
- Department of Surgery, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA
| | - Megan Sykes
- Columbia Center for Translational Immunology, Department of Medicine, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA; Department of Microbiology & Immunology, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA; Department of Surgery, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA.
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18
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Landuyt AE, Klocke BJ, Colvin TB, Schoeb TR, Maynard CL. Cutting Edge: ICOS-Deficient Regulatory T Cells Display Normal Induction of Il10 but Readily Downregulate Expression of Foxp3. THE JOURNAL OF IMMUNOLOGY 2019; 202:1039-1044. [PMID: 30642977 DOI: 10.4049/jimmunol.1801266] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2018] [Accepted: 12/12/2018] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
The ICOS pathway has been implicated in the development and functions of regulatory T (Treg) cells, including those producing IL-10. Treg cell-derived IL-10 is indispensable for the establishment and maintenance of intestinal immune homeostasis. We examined the possible involvement of the ICOS pathway in the accumulation of murine colonic Foxp3- and/or IL-10-expressing cells. We show that ICOS deficiency does not impair induction of IL-10 by intestinal CD4 T cells but, instead, triggers substantial reductions in gut-resident and peripherally derived Foxp3+ Treg cells. ICOS deficiency is associated with reduced demethylation of Foxp3 CNS2 and enhanced loss of Foxp3. This instability significantly limits the ability of ICOS-deficient Treg cells to reverse ongoing inflammation. Collectively, our results identify a novel role for ICOS costimulation in imprinting the functional stability of Foxp3 that is required for the retention of full Treg cell function in the periphery.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ashley E Landuyt
- Department of Pathology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35294; and
| | - Barbara J Klocke
- Department of Pathology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35294; and
| | - Tyler B Colvin
- Department of Pathology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35294; and
| | - Trenton R Schoeb
- Department of Genetics, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35294
| | - Craig L Maynard
- Department of Pathology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35294; and
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19
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Kim MJ, Serwold T. Isolation of Highly Viable Thymic Epithelial Cells for Use in In Vitro and In Vivo Experiments. Methods Mol Biol 2019; 1899:143-156. [PMID: 30649771 PMCID: PMC6959476 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4939-8938-6_11] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/27/2023]
Abstract
Thymic epithelial cells (TECs) play multiple essential roles in T-cell development and the establishment of immune tolerance, but their isolation can be challenging, and their low viability upon isolation complicates downstream experiments. A method that allows TECs to be isolated easily and to survive afterward will be useful for elucidating key questions in TEC biology. Here, we demonstrate a simple method to isolate highly viable TECs. Primary TECs isolated using papain together with collagenase IV and DNase I survive and proliferate in vitro. Moreover, these primary TECs functionally engraft after intrathymic transplantation into recipient mice. Thus, the methods described herein will be useful for elucidating the roles of TECs and TEC subsets in T-cell development and immune tolerance.
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20
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Lanzer KG, Cookenham T, Reiley WW, Blackman MA. Virtual memory cells make a major contribution to the response of aged influenza-naïve mice to influenza virus infection. IMMUNITY & AGEING 2018; 15:17. [PMID: 30093911 PMCID: PMC6081820 DOI: 10.1186/s12979-018-0122-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/27/2018] [Accepted: 07/18/2018] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Background A diverse repertoire of naïve T cells is thought to be essential for a robust response to new infections. However, a key aspect of aging of the T cell compartment is a decline in numbers and diversity of peripheral naïve T cells. We have hypothesized that the age-related decline in naïve T cells forces the immune system to respond to new infections using cross-reactive memory T cells generated to previous infections that dominate the aged peripheral T cell repertoire. Results Here we confirm that the CD8 T cell response of aged, influenza-naïve mice to primary infection with influenza virus is dominated by T cells that derive from the memory T cell pool. These cells exhibit the phenotypic characteristics of virtual memory cells rather than true memory cells. Furthermore, we find that the repertoire of responding CD8 T cells is constrained compared with that of young mice, and differs significantly between individual aged mice. After infection, these virtual memory CD8 T cells effectively develop into granzyme-producing effector cells, and clear virus with kinetics comparable to naïve CD8 T cells from young mice. Conclusions The response of aged, influenza-naive mice to a new influenza infection is mediated largely by memory CD8 T cells. However, unexpectedly, they have the phenotype of VM cells. In response to de novo influenza virus infection, the VM cells develop into granzyme-producing effector cells and clear virus with comparable kinetics to young CD8 T cells.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Tres Cookenham
- Trudeau Institute, 154 Algonquin Avenue, Saranac Lake, NY 12983 USA
| | - William W Reiley
- Trudeau Institute, 154 Algonquin Avenue, Saranac Lake, NY 12983 USA
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21
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Contreras NA, Fontana L, Tosti V, Nikolich-Žugich J. Calorie restriction induces reversible lymphopenia and lymphoid organ atrophy due to cell redistribution. GeroScience 2018; 40:279-291. [PMID: 29804201 DOI: 10.1007/s11357-018-0022-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/02/2018] [Accepted: 05/09/2018] [Indexed: 12/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Calorie restriction (CR) without malnutrition increases life span and health span in multiple model organisms. In non-human and human primates, CR causes changes that protect against several age-related pathologies, reduces inflammation, and preserves or improves cell-mediated immunity. However, CR has also been shown to exhibit adverse effects on certain organs and systems, including the immune system, and to impact genetically different organisms of the same species differentially. Alternately, short periods of fasting followed by refeeding may result in the proliferation of bone marrow stem cells, suggesting a potential rejuvenation effect that could impact the hematopoietic compartment. However, the global consequences of CR followed by refeeding on the immune system have not been carefully investigated. Here, we show that individuals practicing long-term CR with adequate nutrition have markedly lower circulating levels of total leukocytes, neutrophils, lymphocytes, and monocytes. In 10-month-old mice, short-term CR lowered lymphocyte cellularity in multiple lymphoid tissues, but not in bone marrow, which appears to be a site of influx, or a "safe haven" for B, NK, and T cells during CR. Cellular loss and redistribution was reversed within the first week of refeeding. Based on BrdU incorporation and Ki67 expression assays, repopulating T cells exhibited high proliferation in the refeeding group following CR. Finally, we demonstrated that the thymus was not essential for T cell repopulation following refeeding. These findings are of potential relevance to strategies to rejuvenate the immune system in mammals and warrant further investigation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nico A Contreras
- Department of Immunobiology, College of Medicine, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - Luigi Fontana
- Division of Geriatrics and Nutritional Science, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA. .,Department of Experimental and Clinical Sciences, Brescia University, Brescia, Italy.
| | - Valeria Tosti
- Division of Geriatrics and Nutritional Science, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Janko Nikolich-Žugich
- Department of Immunobiology, College of Medicine, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA. .,Arizona Center on Aging, College of Medicine, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA.
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22
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Holder A, Jones G, Soutter F, Palmer DB, Aspinall R, Catchpole B. Polymorphisms in the canine IL7R 3'UTR are associated with thymic output in Labrador retriever dogs and influence post-transcriptional regulation by microRNA 185. DEVELOPMENTAL AND COMPARATIVE IMMUNOLOGY 2018; 81:244-251. [PMID: 29247721 DOI: 10.1016/j.dci.2017.12.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/25/2017] [Revised: 12/08/2017] [Accepted: 12/08/2017] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
Interleukin-7 (IL-7) and its receptor (IL-7R) are essential for T cell development in the thymus, and changes in the IL-7/IL-7R pathway have been implicated in age-associated thymic involution which results in a reduction of naïve T cell output. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between IL7 and IL7R genetic variation and thymic output in dogs. No single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were identified in the canine IL7 gene, but a number were present in the canine IL7R gene. Polymorphisms in the IL7R exon 8 and 3'UTR were found to be associated with signal joint T cell receptor excision circle (sj-TREC) values (a biomarker of thymic output) in young and geriatric Labrador retrievers. Additionally, one of the SNPs in the IL7R 3'UTR (SNP 14 c.1371 + 446 A > C) was found to cause a change in the seed-binding site for microRNA 185 which, a luciferase reporter assay demonstrated, caused changes in post-transcriptional regulation, and therefore might be capable of influencing IL-7R expression. The research findings suggest a genetic link between IL7R genotype and thymic output in dogs, which might impact on immune function as these animals age and provide further evidence of the involvement of IL-7/IL-7R pathway in age-associated thymic involution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Angela Holder
- Department of Pathobiology and Population Sciences, Royal Veterinary College, North Mymms, Hertfordshire, UK
| | - Gareth Jones
- Department of Pathobiology and Population Sciences, Royal Veterinary College, North Mymms, Hertfordshire, UK
| | - Francesca Soutter
- Department of Pathobiology and Population Sciences, Royal Veterinary College, North Mymms, Hertfordshire, UK
| | - Donald B Palmer
- Department of Comparative Biomedical Sciences, Royal Veterinary College, London, UK
| | - Richard Aspinall
- Health and Wellbeing Academy, Postgraduate Medical Institute, Anglia Ruskin University, Chelmsford, Essex, UK
| | - Brian Catchpole
- Department of Pathobiology and Population Sciences, Royal Veterinary College, North Mymms, Hertfordshire, UK.
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23
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Lopes N, Vachon H, Marie J, Irla M. Administration of RANKL boosts thymic regeneration upon bone marrow transplantation. EMBO Mol Med 2018; 9:835-851. [PMID: 28455312 PMCID: PMC5452038 DOI: 10.15252/emmm.201607176] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Cytoablative treatments lead to severe damages on thymic epithelial cells (TECs), which result in delayed de novo thymopoiesis and a prolonged period of T‐cell immunodeficiency. Understanding the mechanisms that govern thymic regeneration is of paramount interest for the recovery of a functional immune system notably after bone marrow transplantation (BMT). Here, we show that RANK ligand (RANKL) is upregulated in CD4+ thymocytes and lymphoid tissue inducer (LTi) cells during the early phase of thymic regeneration. Importantly, whereas RANKL neutralization alters TEC recovery after irradiation, ex vivo RANKL administration during BMT boosts the regeneration of TEC subsets including thymic epithelial progenitor‐enriched cells, thymus homing of lymphoid progenitors, and de novo thymopoiesis. RANKL increases specifically in LTi cells, lymphotoxin α, which is critical for thymic regeneration. RANKL treatment, dependent on lymphotoxin α, is beneficial upon BMT in young and aged individuals. This study thus indicates that RANKL may be clinically useful to improve T‐cell function recovery after BMT by controlling multiple facets of thymic regeneration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Noella Lopes
- Centre d'Immunologie de Marseille-Luminy, Aix Marseille Université, INSERM, CNRS, Marseille Cedex 09, France
| | - Hortense Vachon
- Centre d'Immunologie de Marseille-Luminy, Aix Marseille Université, INSERM, CNRS, Marseille Cedex 09, France
| | - Julien Marie
- Department of Immunology Virology and Inflammation, Cancer Research Center of Lyon (CRCL) UMR INSERM1052, CNRS 5286, Lyon, France.,TGF-b and Immune Evasion, Tumor Immunology Program, DKFZ, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Magali Irla
- Centre d'Immunologie de Marseille-Luminy, Aix Marseille Université, INSERM, CNRS, Marseille Cedex 09, France
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24
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Majumdar S, Nandi D. Thymic Atrophy: Experimental Studies and Therapeutic Interventions. Scand J Immunol 2017; 87:4-14. [PMID: 28960415 DOI: 10.1111/sji.12618] [Citation(s) in RCA: 50] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/05/2017] [Revised: 09/01/2017] [Accepted: 09/25/2017] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
The thymus is essential for T cell development and maturation. It is extremely sensitive to atrophy, wherein loss in cellularity of the thymus and/or disruption of the thymic architecture occur. This may lead to lower naïve T cell output and limited TCR diversity. Thymic atrophy is often associated with ageing. What is less appreciated is that proper functioning of the thymus is critical for reduction in morbidity and mortality associated with various clinical conditions including infections and transplantation. Therefore, therapeutic interventions which possess thymopoietic potential and lower thymic atrophy are required. These treatments enhance thymic output, which is a vital factor in generating favourable outcomes in clinical conditions. In this review, experimental studies on thymic atrophy in rodents and clinical cases where the thymus atrophies are discussed. In addition, mechanisms leading to thymic atrophy during ageing as well as during various stress conditions are reviewed. Therapies such as zinc supplementation, IL7 administration, leptin treatment, keratinocyte growth factor administration and sex steroid ablation during thymic atrophy involving experiments in animals and various clinical scenarios are reviewed. Interventions that have been used across different scenarios to reduce the extent of thymic atrophy and enhance its output are discussed. This review aims to speculate on the roles of combination therapies, which by acting additively or synergistically may further alleviate thymic atrophy and boost its function, thereby strengthening cellular T cell responses.
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Affiliation(s)
- S Majumdar
- Department of Biochemistry & Centre for Infectious Diseases Research, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India
| | - D Nandi
- Department of Biochemistry & Centre for Infectious Diseases Research, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India
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25
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Gut dysbiosis breaks immunological tolerance toward the central nervous system during young adulthood. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2017; 114:E9318-E9327. [PMID: 29078267 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1615715114] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease targeting the central nervous system (CNS) mainly in young adults, and a breakage of immune tolerance to CNS self-antigens has been suggested to initiate CNS autoimmunity. Age and microbial infection are well-known factors involved in the development of autoimmune diseases, including MS. Recent studies have suggested that alterations in the gut microbiota, referred to as dysbiosis, are associated with MS. However, it is still largely unknown how gut dysbiosis affects the onset and progression of CNS autoimmunity. In this study, we investigated the effects of age and gut dysbiosis on the development of CNS autoimmunity in humanized transgenic mice expressing the MS-associated MHC class II (MHC-II) gene, HLA-DR2a, and T-cell receptor (TCR) genes specific for MBP87-99/DR2a that were derived from an MS patient. We show here that the induction of gut dysbiosis triggers the development of spontaneous experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) during adolescence and early young adulthood, while an increase in immunological tolerance with aging suppresses disease onset after late young adulthood in mice. Furthermore, gut dysbiosis induces the expression of complement C3 and production of the anaphylatoxin C3a, and down-regulates the expression of the Foxp3 gene and anergy-related E3 ubiquitin ligase genes. Consequently, gut dysbiosis was able to trigger the development of encephalitogenic T cells and promote the induction of EAE during the age window of young adulthood.
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26
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van Hoeven V, Drylewicz J, Westera L, den Braber I, Mugwagwa T, Tesselaar K, Borghans JAM, de Boer RJ. Dynamics of Recent Thymic Emigrants in Young Adult Mice. Front Immunol 2017; 8:933. [PMID: 28824653 PMCID: PMC5545745 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2017.00933] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/23/2017] [Accepted: 07/21/2017] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The peripheral naive T-cell pool is generally thought to consist of a subpopulation of recent thymic emigrants (RTEs) and a subpopulation of mature naive (MN) T cells with different dynamics. Thymus transplantation and adoptive transfer studies in mice have provided contradicting results, with some studies suggesting that RTEs are relatively short-lived cells, while another study suggested that RTEs have a survival advantage. We here estimate the death rates of RTE and MN T cells by performing both thymus transplantations and deuterium labeling experiments in mice of at least 12 weeks old, an age at which the size of the T-cell pool has stabilized. For CD4+ T cells, we found the total loss rate from the RTE compartment (by death and maturation) to be fourfold faster than that of MN T cells. We estimate the death rate of CD4+ RTE to be 0.046 per day, which is threefold faster than the total loss rate from the MN T-cell compartment. For CD8+ T cells, we found no evidence for kinetic differences between RTE and MN T cells. Thus, our data support the notion that in young adult mice, CD4+ RTE are relatively short-lived cells within the naive CD4+ T-cell pool.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vera van Hoeven
- Laboratory of Translational Immunology, Department of Immunology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands
| | - Julia Drylewicz
- Laboratory of Translational Immunology, Department of Immunology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands.,Theoretical Biology and Bioinformatics, Department of Biology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands
| | - Liset Westera
- Laboratory of Translational Immunology, Department of Immunology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands
| | - Ineke den Braber
- Laboratory of Translational Immunology, Department of Immunology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands
| | - Tendai Mugwagwa
- Theoretical Biology and Bioinformatics, Department of Biology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands
| | - Kiki Tesselaar
- Laboratory of Translational Immunology, Department of Immunology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands
| | - José A M Borghans
- Laboratory of Translational Immunology, Department of Immunology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands
| | - Rob J de Boer
- Theoretical Biology and Bioinformatics, Department of Biology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands
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27
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Netzer C, Knape T, Kuchler L, Weigert A, Zacharowski K, Pfeilschifter W, Sempowski G, Brüne B, von Knethen A. Apoptotic Diminution of Immature Single and Double Positive Thymocyte Subpopulations Contributes to Thymus Involution During Murine Polymicrobial Sepsis. Shock 2017; 48:215-226. [PMID: 28708784 PMCID: PMC6263038 DOI: 10.1097/shk.0000000000000842] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
To generate and maintain functional T-cell receptor diversity, thymocyte development is tightly organized. Errors in this process may have dramatic consequences, provoking, for example, autoimmune diseases. Probably for this reason, the thymus reacts to septic stress with involution, decreasing the numbers of thymocytes. Because it is still unclear which thymocyte subpopulation contributes to thymus involution and whether thymocyte emigration is altered, we were interested to clarify this question in detail. Here, we show, using the cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) mouse model of polymicrobial sepsis, that predominantly immature thymocytes are reduced. The number of immature single positive thymocytes was most marked diminished (CLP: 6.54 × 10 ± 3.79 × 10 vs. sham: 4.54 × 10 ± 7.66 × 10 cells/thymus [24 h], CLP: 2.60 × 10 ± 2.14 × 10 vs. sham: 2.17 × 10 ± 1.90 × 10 cells/thymus [48 h]), and was consequently associated with the highest rate of apoptosis (8.4 [CLP] vs. 2.2% [sham]), the reduction in double positive thymocytes being associated with a smaller apoptotic response (number, CLP: 2.33 × 10 ± 1.38 × 10 vs. sham: 1.07 × 10 ± 2.72 × 10 cells/thymus [24 h], CLP: 2.34 × 10 ± 9.08 × 10 vs. sham: 3.5 × 10 ± 9.62 × 10 cells/thymus [48 h]; apoptosis: 2.5% [CLP] vs. 0.7% [sham]). Analysis of T-cell receptor excision circles revealed that the emigration of mature thymocytes was not inhibited. Real-time qPCR analysis revealed upregulation of pro-apoptotic Bim expression and suggested interference between Notch receptor expression on thymocytes and the respective ligands on thymic stromal cells during CLP-dependent sepsis, which might be responsible for the altered thymocyte viability in CLP-dependent sepsis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christoph Netzer
- Institute of Biochemistry I-Pathobiochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Goethe-University Frankfurt, Theodor-Stern-Kai 7, 60590 Frankfurt, Germany
| | - Tilo Knape
- Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology IME, Project Group Translational Medicine & Pharmacology TMP, Theodor-Stern-Kai 7, 60590 Frankfurt, Germany
| | - Laura Kuchler
- Institute of Biochemistry I-Pathobiochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Goethe-University Frankfurt, Theodor-Stern-Kai 7, 60590 Frankfurt, Germany
| | - Andreas Weigert
- Institute of Biochemistry I-Pathobiochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Goethe-University Frankfurt, Theodor-Stern-Kai 7, 60590 Frankfurt, Germany
| | - Kai Zacharowski
- Department of Anaesthesiology, Intensive Care Medicine and Pain Therapy, University Hospital Frankfurt, Theodor-Stern-Kai 7, 60590 Frankfurt, Germany
| | - Waltraud Pfeilschifter
- Department of Neurology, University Hospital Frankfurt, Theodor-Stern-Kai 7, 60590 Frankfurt, Germany
| | - Gregory Sempowski
- Duke Human Vaccine Institute, Duke University School of Medicine, 909 S. Lasall St, Durham, NC 27705
| | - Bernhard Brüne
- Institute of Biochemistry I-Pathobiochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Goethe-University Frankfurt, Theodor-Stern-Kai 7, 60590 Frankfurt, Germany
| | - Andreas von Knethen
- Institute of Biochemistry I-Pathobiochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Goethe-University Frankfurt, Theodor-Stern-Kai 7, 60590 Frankfurt, Germany
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28
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Interleukin-7 and Immunosenescence. J Immunol Res 2017; 2017:4807853. [PMID: 28484723 PMCID: PMC5397725 DOI: 10.1155/2017/4807853] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/06/2016] [Revised: 02/01/2017] [Accepted: 02/19/2017] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
The age of an individual is an important, independent risk factor for many of the most common diseases afflicting modern societies. Interleukin-7 (IL-7) plays a central, critical role in the homeostasis of the immune system. Recent studies support a critical role for IL-7 in the maintenance of a vigorous healthspan. We describe the role of IL-7 and its receptor in immunosenescence, the aging of the immune system. An understanding of the role that IL-7 plays in aging may permit parsimonious preventative or therapeutic solutions for diverse conditions. Perhaps IL-7 might be used to "tune" the immune system to optimize human healthspan and longevity.
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29
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Hastings KT, Elizalde D, Muppana L, Levine S, Kamel CM, Ingram WM, Kirkpatrick JT, Hu C, Rausch MP, Gallitano AL. Nab2 maintains thymus cellularity with aging and stress. Mol Immunol 2017; 85:185-195. [PMID: 28282643 DOI: 10.1016/j.molimm.2017.02.019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/04/2016] [Revised: 02/24/2017] [Accepted: 02/27/2017] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
Thymic cellularity is influenced by a variety of biological and environmental factors, such as age and stress; however, little is known about the molecular genetic mechanisms that regulate this process. Immediate early genes of the Early growth response (Egr) family have critical roles in immune function and response to environmental stress. The transcription factors, Egr1, Egr2 and Egr3, play roles in the thymus and in peripheral T-cell activation. Nab2, which binds Egrs 1, 2, and 3 as a co-regulator of transcription, also regulates peripheral T-cell activation. However, a role for Nab2 in the thymus has not been reported. Using Nab2-deficient (KO) mice we found that male Nab2KO mice have reduced thymus size and decreased numbers of thymocytes, compared with age-matched wildtype (WT) mice. Furthermore, the number of thymocytes in Nab2KO males decreases more rapidly with age. This effect is sex-dependent as female Nab2KO mice show neither reduced thymocyte numbers nor accelerated thymocyte loss with age, compared to female WT littermates. Since stress induces expression of Nab2 and the Egrs, we examined whether loss of Nab2 alters stress-induced decrease in thymic cellularity. Restraint stress induced a significant decrease in thymic cellularity in Nab2KO and WT mice, with significant changes in the thymocyte subset populations only in the Nab2KO mice. Stress reduced the percentage of DP cells by half and increased the percentage of CD4SP and CD8SP cells by roughly three-fold in Nab2KO mice. These findings indicate a requirement for Nab2 in maintaining thymocyte number in male mice with age and in response to stress.
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Affiliation(s)
- K Taraszka Hastings
- Department of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Arizona College of Medicine - Phoenix, 425 N. 5th St., Phoenix, AZ, 85004, USA.
| | - Diana Elizalde
- Department of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Arizona College of Medicine - Phoenix, 425 N. 5th St., Phoenix, AZ, 85004, USA
| | - Leela Muppana
- Department of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Arizona College of Medicine - Phoenix, 425 N. 5th St., Phoenix, AZ, 85004, USA
| | - Sarah Levine
- Department of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Arizona College of Medicine - Phoenix, 425 N. 5th St., Phoenix, AZ, 85004, USA
| | - Christy M Kamel
- Department of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Arizona College of Medicine - Phoenix, 425 N. 5th St., Phoenix, AZ, 85004, USA
| | - Wendy M Ingram
- Department of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Arizona College of Medicine - Phoenix, 425 N. 5th St., Phoenix, AZ, 85004, USA
| | - Jennifer T Kirkpatrick
- Department of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Arizona College of Medicine - Phoenix, 425 N. 5th St., Phoenix, AZ, 85004, USA
| | - Chengcheng Hu
- Department of Biostatistics, Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, University of Arizona, 714 E. Van Buren St., Phoenix, AZ, 85004, USA.
| | - Matthew P Rausch
- Department of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Arizona College of Medicine - Phoenix, 425 N. 5th St., Phoenix, AZ, 85004, USA
| | - Amelia L Gallitano
- Department of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Arizona College of Medicine - Phoenix, 425 N. 5th St., Phoenix, AZ, 85004, USA.
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30
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Bień K, Lewicki S, Zdanowski R, Skopinska-Różewska E, Krzyżowska M. Feeding Pregnant and Lactating Mice Rhodiola kirilowii Extracts helps to Preserve Thymus Function of their Adult Progeny. Pol J Vet Sci 2017; 19:581-587. [PMID: 27760021 DOI: 10.1515/pjvs-2016-0073] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
Plants belonging to Rhodiola kirilowii species, members of Rhodiola genus and Crassulaceae family, grow wildly in Tibet, Mongolia and China mountains and are traditionally used as adaptogens, antidepressants and anti-inflammatory remedies. Nowadays, R. kirilowii is cultivated in some countries, also in Poland. In our previous papers we reported immuno- and angio-modulatory effects of aqueous and hydro-alcoholic extracts of radix and rhizome of this plant in non-pregnant and pregnant mice. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of feeding pregnant and further lactating mice these extracts on selected thymus function parameters in adult progeny. The counts of M-30+ apoptotic cells, in the thymuses obtained from progeny of mice fed during pregnancy and lactation water or 50% water-alcoholic extract of Rhodiola kirilowii, were significantly lower (p<0.05) than apoptotic cells counts observed in the control mice. No significant differences in the counts of IL-7-positive cells in the thymuses obtained from progeny of the control mice and mothers treated with water or hydro-alcohol extracts of Rhodiola kirilowii were observed.
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31
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Thome JJC, Grinshpun B, Kumar BV, Kubota M, Ohmura Y, Lerner H, Sempowski GD, Shen Y, Farber DL. Longterm maintenance of human naive T cells through in situ homeostasis in lymphoid tissue sites. Sci Immunol 2016; 1. [PMID: 28361127 DOI: 10.1126/sciimmunol.aah6506] [Citation(s) in RCA: 97] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
Naïve T cells develop in the thymus and coordinate immune responses to new antigens; however, mechanisms for their long-term persistence over the human lifespan remain undefined. Here, we investigated human naïve T cell development and maintenance in primary and secondary lymphoid tissues obtained from individual organ donors aged 3 months-73 years. In the thymus, the frequency of double-positive thymocytes declined sharply in donors over age 40 coincident with reduced recent thymic emigrants (RTE) in lymphoid tissues, while naïve T cells were functionally maintained predominantly in lymph nodes (LN). Analysis of TCR clonal distribution by CDR3 sequencing of naïve CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in spleen and LNs reveal site-specific clonal expansions of naïve T cells from individuals >40 years of age with minimal clonal overlap between lymphoid tissues. We also identified biased naïve T cell clonal distribution within specific lymph nodes based on VJ usage. Together these results suggest prolonged maintenance of naïve T cells through in situ homeostasis and retention in lymphoid tissue.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joseph J C Thome
- Columbia Center for Translational Immunology, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY 10032, USA; Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY 10032, USA
| | - Boris Grinshpun
- Department of Systems Biology, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY 10032, USA
| | - Brahma V Kumar
- Columbia Center for Translational Immunology, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY 10032, USA
| | - Masa Kubota
- Columbia Center for Translational Immunology, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY 10032, USA; Department of Surgery, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY 10032, USA
| | - Yoshiaki Ohmura
- Columbia Center for Translational Immunology, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY 10032, USA; Department of Surgery, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY 10032, USA
| | | | | | - Yufeng Shen
- Department of Systems Biology, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY 10032, USA
| | - Donna L Farber
- Columbia Center for Translational Immunology, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY 10032, USA; Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY 10032, USA; Department of Surgery, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY 10032, USA
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32
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Kong Y, Li Y, Zhang W, Yuan S, Winkler R, Kröhnert U, Han J, Lin T, Zhou Y, Miao P, Wang B, Zhang J, Yu Z, Zhang Y, Kosan C, Zeng H. Sepsis-Induced Thymic Atrophy Is Associated with Defects in Early Lymphopoiesis. Stem Cells 2016; 34:2902-2915. [PMID: 27422171 DOI: 10.1002/stem.2464] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2016] [Revised: 06/28/2016] [Accepted: 07/06/2016] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
Impaired T lymphopoiesis is associated with immunosuppression of the adaptive immune response and plays a role in the morbidity and mortality of patients and animal models of sepsis. Although previous studies examined several intrathymic mechanisms that negatively affect T lymphopoiesis, the extrathymic mechanisms remain poorly understood. Here, we report a dramatic decrease in the percentage of early T lineage progenitors (ETPs) in three models of sepsis in mice (cecal ligation and puncture, lipopolysaccharide continuous injection, and poly I:C continuous injection). However, septic mice did not show a decrease in the number of bone marrow (BM) precursor cells. Instead, the BM progenitors for ETPs expressed reduced mRNA levels of CC chemokine receptor (CCR) 7, CCR9 and P-selectin glycoprotein ligand 1, and exhibited impaired homing capacity in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, RNA-Seq analysis and real-time PCR showed a marked downregulation of several lymphoid-related genes in hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells. Hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells differentiated into myeloid cells but failed to generate T lymphocytes in vitro and in vivo. Our results indicate that the depletion of ETPs in septic mice might be a consequence of an impaired migration of BM progenitors to the thymus, as well as a defect in lymphoid lineage commitment. Stem Cells 2016;34:2902-2915.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yaxian Kong
- Institute of Infectious Diseases, Beijing Ditan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.,Beijing Key Laboratory of Emerging Infectious Diseases, Beijing, China
| | - Yajie Li
- Institute of Infectious Diseases, Beijing Ditan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.,Beijing Key Laboratory of Emerging Infectious Diseases, Beijing, China
| | - Weimei Zhang
- Institute of Infectious Diseases, Beijing Ditan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.,Beijing Key Laboratory of Emerging Infectious Diseases, Beijing, China
| | - Shaoxin Yuan
- Institute of Infectious Diseases, Beijing Ditan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.,Beijing Key Laboratory of Emerging Infectious Diseases, Beijing, China
| | - René Winkler
- Department of Biochemistry, Center for Molecular Biomedicine (CMB), Friedrich-Schiller-University, Jena, Germany
| | - Ulrike Kröhnert
- Department of Biochemistry, Center for Molecular Biomedicine (CMB), Friedrich-Schiller-University, Jena, Germany
| | - Junyan Han
- Institute of Infectious Diseases, Beijing Ditan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.,Beijing Key Laboratory of Emerging Infectious Diseases, Beijing, China
| | - Tao Lin
- Institute of Infectious Diseases, Beijing Ditan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.,Beijing Key Laboratory of Emerging Infectious Diseases, Beijing, China
| | - Yu Zhou
- Department of Immunology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Key Laboratory of Medical Immunology (Ministry of Health), Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing, China
| | - Peng Miao
- Department of Surgery, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
| | - Beibei Wang
- Institute of Infectious Diseases, Beijing Ditan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.,Beijing Key Laboratory of Emerging Infectious Diseases, Beijing, China
| | - Jianping Zhang
- Institute of Infectious Diseases, Beijing Ditan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.,Beijing Key Laboratory of Emerging Infectious Diseases, Beijing, China
| | - Zhengya Yu
- Department of Surgery, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
| | - Yu Zhang
- Department of Immunology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Key Laboratory of Medical Immunology (Ministry of Health), Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing, China
| | - Christian Kosan
- Department of Biochemistry, Center for Molecular Biomedicine (CMB), Friedrich-Schiller-University, Jena, Germany
| | - Hui Zeng
- Institute of Infectious Diseases, Beijing Ditan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.,Beijing Key Laboratory of Emerging Infectious Diseases, Beijing, China
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33
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Synhaeve N, Musilli S, Stefani J, Nicolas N, Delissen O, Dublineau I, Bertho JM. Immune System Modifications Induced in a Mouse Model of Chronic Exposure to (90)Sr. Radiat Res 2016; 185:267-84. [PMID: 26930377 DOI: 10.1667/rr14014.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
Strontium 90 ((90)Sr) remains in the environment long after a major nuclear disaster occurs. As a result, populations living on contaminated land are potentially exposed to daily ingesting of low quantities of (90)Sr. The potential long-term health effects of such chronic contamination are unknown. In this study, we used a mouse model to evaluate the effects of (90)Sr ingestion on the immune system, the animals were chronically exposed to (90)Sr in drinking water at a concentration of 20 kBq/l, for a daily ingestion of 80-100 Bq/day. This resulted in a reduced number of CD19(+) B lymphocytes in the bone marrow and spleen in steady-state conditions. In contrast, the results from a vaccine experiment performed as a functional test of the immune system showed that in response to T-dependent antigens, there was a reduction in IgG specific to tetanus toxin (TT), a balanced Th1/Th2 response inducer antigen, but not to keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH), a strong Th2 response inducer antigen. This was accompanied by a reduction in Th1 cells in the spleen, consistent with the observed reduction in specific IgG concentration. The precise mechanisms by which (90)Sr acts on the immune system remain to be elucidated. However, our results suggest that (90)Sr ingestion may be responsible for some of the reported effects of internal contamination on the immune system in civilian populations exposed to the Chernobyl fallout.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicholas Synhaeve
- Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire (IRSN), PRP-HOM/SRBE, LRTOX, Fontenay-aux-Roses, F-92262, France
| | - Stefania Musilli
- Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire (IRSN), PRP-HOM/SRBE, LRTOX, Fontenay-aux-Roses, F-92262, France
| | - Johanna Stefani
- Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire (IRSN), PRP-HOM/SRBE, LRTOX, Fontenay-aux-Roses, F-92262, France
| | - Nour Nicolas
- Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire (IRSN), PRP-HOM/SRBE, LRTOX, Fontenay-aux-Roses, F-92262, France
| | - Olivia Delissen
- Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire (IRSN), PRP-HOM/SRBE, LRTOX, Fontenay-aux-Roses, F-92262, France
| | - Isabelle Dublineau
- Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire (IRSN), PRP-HOM/SRBE, LRTOX, Fontenay-aux-Roses, F-92262, France
| | - Jean-Marc Bertho
- Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire (IRSN), PRP-HOM/SRBE, LRTOX, Fontenay-aux-Roses, F-92262, France
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34
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Velardi E, Dudakov JA, van den Brink MRM. Sex steroid ablation: an immunoregenerative strategy for immunocompromised patients. Bone Marrow Transplant 2016; 50 Suppl 2:S77-81. [PMID: 26039214 DOI: 10.1038/bmt.2015.101] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Abstract
Age-related decline in thymic function is a well-described process that results in reduced T-cell development and thymic output of new naïve T cells. Thymic involution leads to reduced response to vaccines and new pathogens in otherwise healthy individuals; however, reduced thymic function is particularly detrimental in clinical scenarios where the immune system is profoundly depleted such as after chemotherapy, radiotherapy, infection and shock. Poor thymic function and restoration of immune competence has been correlated with an increased risk of opportunistic infections, tumor relapse and autoimmunity. Apart from their primary role in sex dimorphism, sex steroid levels profoundly affect the immune system in general and, in fact, age-related thymic involution has been at least partially attributed to the increase in sex steroids at puberty. Subsequently it has been demonstrated that the removal of sex steroids, or sex steroid ablation (SSA), triggers physiologic changes that ultimately lead to thymic re-growth and improved T-cell reconstitution in settings of hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT). Although the cellular and molecular process underlying these regenerative effects are still poorly understood, SSA clearly represents an attractive therapeutic approach to enhance thymic function and restore immune competence in immunodeficient individuals.
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Affiliation(s)
- E Velardi
- 1] Immunology Program, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA [2] Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy
| | - J A Dudakov
- 1] Immunology Program, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA [2] Monash Immunology and Stem Cell Laboratories (MISCL), Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - M R M van den Brink
- 1] Immunology Program, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA [2] Department of Medicine, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA
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35
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Prolongevity hormone FGF21 protects against immune senescence by delaying age-related thymic involution. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2016; 113:1026-31. [PMID: 26755598 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1514511113] [Citation(s) in RCA: 78] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Age-related thymic degeneration is associated with loss of naïve T cells, restriction of peripheral T-cell diversity, and reduced healthspan due to lower immune competence. The mechanistic basis of age-related thymic demise is unclear, but prior evidence suggests that caloric restriction (CR) can slow thymic aging by maintaining thymic epithelial cell integrity and reducing the generation of intrathymic lipid. Here we show that the prolongevity ketogenic hormone fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21), a member of the endocrine FGF subfamily, is expressed in thymic stromal cells along with FGF receptors and its obligate coreceptor, βKlotho. We found that FGF21 expression in thymus declines with age and is induced by CR. Genetic gain of FGF21 function in mice protects against age-related thymic involution with an increase in earliest thymocyte progenitors and cortical thymic epithelial cells. Importantly, FGF21 overexpression reduced intrathymic lipid, increased perithymic brown adipose tissue, and elevated thymic T-cell export and naïve T-cell frequencies in old mice. Conversely, loss of FGF21 function in middle-aged mice accelerated thymic aging, increased lethality, and delayed T-cell reconstitution postirradiation and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Collectively, FGF21 integrates metabolic and immune systems to prevent thymic injury and may aid in the reestablishment of a diverse T-cell repertoire in cancer patients following HSCT.
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36
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Jarman SN, Polanowski AM, Faux CE, Robbins J, De Paoli-Iseppi R, Bravington M, Deagle BE. Molecular biomarkers for chronological age in animal ecology. Mol Ecol 2016; 24:4826-47. [PMID: 26308242 DOI: 10.1111/mec.13357] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/03/2015] [Revised: 08/08/2015] [Accepted: 08/21/2015] [Indexed: 01/07/2023]
Abstract
The chronological age of an individual animal predicts many of its biological characteristics, and these in turn influence population-level ecological processes. Animal age information can therefore be valuable in ecological research, but many species have no external features that allow age to be reliably determined. Molecular age biomarkers provide a potential solution to this problem. Research in this area of molecular ecology has so far focused on a limited range of age biomarkers. The most commonly tested molecular age biomarker is change in average telomere length, which predicts age well in a small number of species and tissues, but performs poorly in many other situations. Epigenetic regulation of gene expression has recently been shown to cause age-related modifications to DNA and to cause changes in abundance of several RNA types throughout animal lifespans. Age biomarkers based on these epigenetic changes, and other new DNA-based assays, have already been applied to model organisms, humans and a limited number of wild animals. There is clear potential to apply these marker types more widely in ecological studies. For many species, these new approaches will produce age estimates where this was previously impractical. They will also enable age information to be gathered in cross-sectional studies and expand the range of demographic characteristics that can be quantified with molecular methods. We describe the range of molecular age biomarkers that have been investigated to date and suggest approaches for developing the newer marker types as age assays in nonmodel animal species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Simon N Jarman
- Australian Antarctic Division, 203 Channel Highway, Kingston, Tas., 7050, Australia
| | - Andrea M Polanowski
- Australian Antarctic Division, 203 Channel Highway, Kingston, Tas., 7050, Australia
| | - Cassandra E Faux
- Australian Antarctic Division, 203 Channel Highway, Kingston, Tas., 7050, Australia
| | - Jooke Robbins
- Center for Coastal Studies, 5 Holway Avenue, Provincetown, MA, 02657, USA
| | - Ricardo De Paoli-Iseppi
- Australian Antarctic Division, 203 Channel Highway, Kingston, Tas., 7050, Australia.,Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, Castray Esplanade, Hobart, Tas., 7000, Australia
| | - Mark Bravington
- Marine Laboratory, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Castray Esplanade, Hobart, Tas., 7000, Australia
| | - Bruce E Deagle
- Australian Antarctic Division, 203 Channel Highway, Kingston, Tas., 7050, Australia
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37
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Temporal fate mapping reveals age-linked heterogeneity in naive T lymphocytes in mice. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2015; 112:E6917-26. [PMID: 26607449 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1517246112] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Understanding how our T-cell compartments are maintained requires knowledge of their population dynamics, which are typically quantified over days to weeks using the administration of labels incorporated into the DNA of dividing cells. These studies present snapshots of homeostatic dynamics and have suggested that lymphocyte populations are heterogeneous with respect to rates of division and/or death, although resolving the details of such heterogeneity is problematic. Here we present a method of studying the population dynamics of T cells in mice over timescales of months to years that reveals heterogeneity in rates of division and death with respect to the age of the host at the time of thymic export. We use the transplant conditioning drug busulfan to ablate hematopoetic stem cells in young mice but leave the peripheral lymphocyte compartments intact. Following their reconstitution with congenically labeled (donor) bone marrow, we followed the dilution of peripheral host T cells by donor-derived lymphocytes for a year after treatment. Describing these kinetics with mathematical models, we estimate rates of thymic production, division and death of naive CD4 and CD8 T cells. Population-averaged estimates of mean lifetimes are consistent with earlier studies, but we find the strongest support for a model in which both naive T-cell pools contain kinetically distinct subpopulations of older host-derived cells with self-renewing capacity that are resistant to displacement by naive donor lymphocytes. We speculate that these incumbent cells are conditioned or selected for increased fitness through homeostatic expansion into the lymphopenic neonatal environment.
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Raynor J, Karns R, Almanan M, Li KP, Divanovic S, Chougnet CA, Hildeman DA. IL-6 and ICOS Antagonize Bim and Promote Regulatory T Cell Accrual with Age. JOURNAL OF IMMUNOLOGY (BALTIMORE, MD. : 1950) 2015; 195:944-52. [PMID: 26109645 PMCID: PMC4506860 DOI: 10.4049/jimmunol.1500443] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/23/2015] [Accepted: 05/24/2015] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
Regulatory T cells (Tregs), a subset of CD4(+) T cells, dramatically accumulate with age in humans and mice and contribute to age-related immune suppression. Recently, we showed that a majority of accumulating Tregs in aged mice expressed low levels of CD25, and their accrual is associated with declining levels of IL-2 in aged mice. In this study, we further investigated the origin of CD25(lo) Tregs in aged mice. First, aged Tregs had high expression of neuropilin-1 and Helios, and had a broad Vβ repertoire. Next, we analyzed the gene expression profile of Tregs, naive T cells, and memory T cells in aged mice. We found that the gene expression profile of aged CD25(lo) Tregs were more related to young CD25(lo) Tregs than to either naive or memory T cells. Further, the gene expression profile of aged Tregs was consistent with recently described "effector" Tregs (eTregs). Additional analysis revealed that nearly all Tregs in aged mice were of an effector phenotype (CD44(hi)CD62L(lo)) and could be further characterized by high levels of ICOS and CD69. ICOS contributed to Treg maintenance in aged mice, because in vivo Ab blockade of ICOSL led to a loss of eTregs, and this loss was rescued in Bim-deficient mice. Further, serum levels of IL-6 increased with age and contributed to elevated expression of ICOS on aged Tregs. Finally, Treg accrual was significantly blunted in aged IL-6-deficient mice. Together, our data show a role for IL-6 in promoting eTreg accrual with age likely through maintenance of ICOS expression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jana Raynor
- Division of Immunobiology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH 45229
| | - Rebekah Karns
- Division of Biomedical Informatics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH 45229; and
| | - Maha Almanan
- Division of Immunobiology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH 45229
| | - Kun-Po Li
- Division of Immunobiology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH 45229
| | - Senad Divanovic
- Division of Immunobiology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH 45229; Department of Pediatrics, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH 45229
| | - Claire A Chougnet
- Division of Immunobiology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH 45229; Department of Pediatrics, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH 45229
| | - David A Hildeman
- Division of Immunobiology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH 45229; Department of Pediatrics, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH 45229
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39
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Abdul-Hai A, Ben Yehuda A, Slavin S, Or R. Transplant of ex vivo incubated bone marrow with rIL -7 for the enhancement of immuno-hematopoietic reconstitution. Leuk Lymphoma 2015; 56:3387-92. [PMID: 26025300 DOI: 10.3109/10428194.2015.1016935] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022]
Abstract
Interleukin-7 (IL-7) is a critical cytokine in early B and T cell development. Peripheral T cell expansion and thymopoiesis and is a result of the ongoing reconstitution from uncommitted stem cells after transplant. We investigated the efficacy of ex vivo incubated bone marrow cells treated with recombinant human IL-7 (rIL-7) on subsequent in vivo murine models of syngeneic bone marrow (BM) transplant. After ex vivo culture with rIL-7, we observed a 1½-fold increase in BM cellularity; this increase was associated with an enhanced reconstitution of bone marrow cells and thymocytes at 45 days post-transplant. In addition to increased cellularity, lymphocytes from mice transplanted with cultured rIL-7 showed enhanced proliferative responses to mitogenic stimulation. These findings suggest rIL-7 to be a promising agent for the clinical application of treating immune deficiency and enhancing immuno-hematopoietic reconstitution of the stem cell auto/allograft.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ali Abdul-Hai
- a Department of Bone Marrow Transplantation & Cancer Immunotherapy , Hadassah/Hebrew University Medical Center , Kiryat Hadassah, Jerusalem , Israel
| | - Aryeh Ben Yehuda
- b Department of Internal Medicine , Hadassah/Hebrew University Medical Center , Kiryat Hadassah, Jerusalem , Israel
| | - Shimon Slavin
- a Department of Bone Marrow Transplantation & Cancer Immunotherapy , Hadassah/Hebrew University Medical Center , Kiryat Hadassah, Jerusalem , Israel
| | - Reuven Or
- a Department of Bone Marrow Transplantation & Cancer Immunotherapy , Hadassah/Hebrew University Medical Center , Kiryat Hadassah, Jerusalem , Israel
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40
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Kekäläinen E, Pöntynen N, Meri S, Arstila TP, Jarva H. Autoimmunity, Not a Developmental Defect, is the Cause for Subfertility of Autoimmune Regulator (Aire) Deficient Mice. Scand J Immunol 2015; 81:298-304. [PMID: 25689230 DOI: 10.1111/sji.12280] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2014] [Accepted: 01/24/2015] [Indexed: 01/26/2023]
Abstract
Autoimmune regulator's (AIRE) best characterized role is in the generation immunological tolerance, but it is also involved in many other processes such as spermatogenesis. Loss-of-function mutations in AIRE cause a disease called autoimmune polyendocrinopathy, candidiasis and ectodermal dystrophy (APECED; also called autoimmune polyendocrinopathy syndrome type 1, APS-1) that is dominated by various autoimmune manifestations, mainly endocrinopathies. Both patients with APECED and Aire(-/-) mice suffer from varying levels of infertility, but it is not clear if it is a result of an autoimmune tissue damage or more of a developmental defect. In this study, we wanted to resolve whether or not the reduced fertility of Aire(-/-) mice is dependent on the adaptive immune system and therefore a manifestation of autoimmunity in these mice. We generated lymphopenic mice without Aire expression that were devoid of the autoimmune manifestations previously reported in immunocompetent Aire(-/-) mice. These Aire(-/-) Rag1(-/-) mice regained full fertility. This confirms that the development of infertility in Aire(-/-) mice requires a functional adaptive immune system. We also show that only the male Aire(-/-) mice are subfertile, whereas Aire(-/-) females produce litters normally. Moreover, the male subfertility can be adoptively transferred with lymphocytes from Aire(-/-) donor mice to previously fertile lymphopenic Aire(-/-) recipients. Our data show that subfertility in Aire(-/-) mice is dependent on a functional adaptive immune system thus confirming its autoimmune aetiology.
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Affiliation(s)
- E Kekäläinen
- Department of Bacteriology and Immunology and Immunobiology Research Program, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
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41
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The expansion of thymopoiesis in neonatal mice is dependent on expression of high mobility group a 2 protein (Hmga2). PLoS One 2015; 10:e0125414. [PMID: 25933067 PMCID: PMC4416735 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0125414] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/18/2015] [Accepted: 03/23/2015] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Cell number in the mouse thymus increases steadily during the first two weeks after birth. It then plateaus and begins to decline by seven weeks after birth. The factors governing these dramatic changes in cell production are not well understood. The data herein correlate levels of High mobility group A 2 protein (Hmga2) expression with these temporal changes in thymopoiesis. Hmga2 is expressed at high levels in murine fetal and neonatal early T cell progenitors (ETP), which are the most immature intrathymic precursors, and becomes almost undetectable in these progenitors after 5 weeks of age. Hmga2 expression is critical for the initial, exponential expansion of thymopoiesis, as Hmga2 deficient mice have a deficit of ETPs within days after birth, and total thymocyte number is repressed compared to wild type littermates. Finally, our data raise the possibility that similar events occur in humans, because Hmga2 expression is high in human fetal thymic progenitors and falls in these cells during early infancy.
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42
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Kim MJ, Miller CM, Shadrach JL, Wagers AJ, Serwold T. Young, proliferative thymic epithelial cells engraft and function in aging thymuses. THE JOURNAL OF IMMUNOLOGY 2015; 194:4784-95. [PMID: 25870244 DOI: 10.4049/jimmunol.1403158] [Citation(s) in RCA: 48] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/18/2014] [Accepted: 03/09/2015] [Indexed: 01/17/2023]
Abstract
The thymus reaches its maximum size early in life and then begins to shrink, producing fewer T cells with increasing age. This thymic decline is thought to contribute to age-related T cell lymphopenias and hinder T cell recovery after bone marrow transplantation. Although several cellular and molecular processes have been implicated in age-related thymic involution, their relative contributions are not known. Using heterochronic parabiosis, we observe that young circulating factors are not sufficient to drive regeneration of the aged thymus. In contrast, we find that resupplying young, engraftable thymic epithelial cells (TECs) to a middle-aged or defective thymus leads to thymic growth and increased T cell production. Intrathymic transplantation and in vitro colony-forming assays reveal that the engraftment and proliferative capacities of TECs diminish early in life, whereas the receptivity of the thymus to TEC engraftment remains relatively constant with age. These results support a model in which thymic growth and subsequent involution are driven by cell-intrinsic changes in the proliferative capacity of TECs, and further show that young TECs can engraft and directly drive the growth of involuted thymuses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mi-Jeong Kim
- Joslin Diabetes Center, Boston, MA 02215; Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Cambridge, MA 02138
| | - Christine M Miller
- Joslin Diabetes Center, Boston, MA 02215; Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Cambridge, MA 02138; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Cambridge, MA 02138; and Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology, Paul F. Glenn Laboratories for the Biological Mechanisms of Aging, Harvard Medical School, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138
| | - Jennifer L Shadrach
- Joslin Diabetes Center, Boston, MA 02215; Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Cambridge, MA 02138; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Cambridge, MA 02138; and Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology, Paul F. Glenn Laboratories for the Biological Mechanisms of Aging, Harvard Medical School, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138
| | - Amy J Wagers
- Joslin Diabetes Center, Boston, MA 02215; Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Cambridge, MA 02138; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Cambridge, MA 02138; and Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology, Paul F. Glenn Laboratories for the Biological Mechanisms of Aging, Harvard Medical School, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138
| | - Thomas Serwold
- Joslin Diabetes Center, Boston, MA 02215; Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Cambridge, MA 02138;
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Goldberg EL, Romero‐Aleshire MJ, Renkema KR, Ventevogel MS, Chew WM, Uhrlaub JL, Smithey MJ, Limesand KH, Sempowski GD, Brooks HL, Nikolich‐Žugich J. Lifespan-extending caloric restriction or mTOR inhibition impair adaptive immunity of old mice by distinct mechanisms. Aging Cell 2015; 14:130-8. [PMID: 25424641 PMCID: PMC4326902 DOI: 10.1111/acel.12280] [Citation(s) in RCA: 72] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 09/19/2014] [Indexed: 12/05/2022] Open
Abstract
Aging of the world population and a concomitant increase in age-related diseases and disabilities mandates the search for strategies to increase healthspan, the length of time an individual lives healthy and productively. Due to the age-related decline of the immune system, infectious diseases remain among the top 5–10 causes of mortality and morbidity in the elderly, and improving immune function during aging remains an important aspect of healthspan extension. Calorie restriction (CR) and more recently rapamycin (rapa) feeding have both been used to extend lifespan in mice. Preciously few studies have actually investigated the impact of each of these interventions upon in vivo immune defense against relevant microbial challenge in old organisms. We tested how rapa and CR each impacted the immune system in adult and old mice. We report that each intervention differentially altered T-cell development in the thymus, peripheral T-cell maintenance, T-cell function and host survival after West Nile virus infection, inducing distinct but deleterious consequences to the aging immune system. We conclude that neither rapa feeding nor CR, in the current form/administration regimen, may be optimal strategies for extending healthy immune function and, with it, lifespan.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emily L. Goldberg
- Departments of Immunobiology and the Arizona Center on Aging University of Arizona College of Medicine Tucson AZ USA
- Department of Nutritional Sciences College of Agriculture and Life Sciences University of Arizona Tucson AZ USA
| | | | - Kristin R. Renkema
- Departments of Immunobiology and the Arizona Center on Aging University of Arizona College of Medicine Tucson AZ USA
| | | | - Wade M. Chew
- Arizona Cancer Center University of Arizona College of Medicine Tucson AZ USA
| | - Jennifer L. Uhrlaub
- Departments of Immunobiology and the Arizona Center on Aging University of Arizona College of Medicine Tucson AZ USA
| | - Megan J. Smithey
- Departments of Immunobiology and the Arizona Center on Aging University of Arizona College of Medicine Tucson AZ USA
| | - Kirsten H. Limesand
- Department of Nutritional Sciences College of Agriculture and Life Sciences University of Arizona Tucson AZ USA
- Arizona Cancer Center University of Arizona College of Medicine Tucson AZ USA
| | | | - Heddwen L. Brooks
- Department of Physiology University of Arizona College of Medicine Tucson AZ USA
| | - Janko Nikolich‐Žugich
- Departments of Immunobiology and the Arizona Center on Aging University of Arizona College of Medicine Tucson AZ USA
- Department of Nutritional Sciences College of Agriculture and Life Sciences University of Arizona Tucson AZ USA
- Arizona Cancer Center University of Arizona College of Medicine Tucson AZ USA
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44
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Yu K, Dong Q, Mao X, Meng K, Zhao X, Ji Q, Wu B, Zhong Y, Zhu Z, Liu Y, Zhang W, Tony H, Shi H, Zeng Q. Disruption of the TSLP-TSLPR-LAP signaling between epithelial and dendritic cells through hyperlipidemia contributes to regulatory T-Cell defects in atherosclerotic mice. Atherosclerosis 2014; 238:278-88. [PMID: 25544178 DOI: 10.1016/j.atherosclerosis.2014.12.019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/04/2014] [Revised: 12/09/2014] [Accepted: 12/09/2014] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
Abstract
Regulatory T-Cells (Tregs) play a protective role against the development of atherosclerosis. Moreover, thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP)/thymic stromal lymphopoietin receptor (TSLPR) signaling in myeloid dendritic cells (DCs) promote Treg differentiation. Here, we examined the potential role of TSLP/TSLPR on Treg homeostasis in atherosclerosis. The frequencies of both latency-associated peptide (LAP)(+) and Foxp3(+) Tregs were reduced in the thymus and spleen of ApoE(-/-) mice compared with C57BL/6 mice, and this effect was associated with decreased thymic output. The tolerogenic function of DCs obtained from ApoE(-/-) mice was compromised compared with those from C57BL/6 mice. The expression of TSLP and TSLPR was also inhibited in ApoE(-/-) mice. In addition, we found that ox-LDL attenuated TSLP expression in cultured thymic epithelial cells (TECs) through the activation of retinoid X receptor alpha (RXRA) and IL-1β and decreased LAP and PD-L1 expression in oxLDL-activated DCs while both were up-regulated in TSLP-activated DCs. We also observed that the TSLP-DCs mediated differentiation of Tregs was abrogated through LAP neutralization. Furthermore, TSLP injection rescued Treg defects in ApoE(-/-) mice. These findings suggest that Treg defects in ApoE(-/-) mice might partially be attributed to the disruption of TSLP-TSLPR-LAP signaling in epithelial cells (ECs) and DCs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kunwu Yu
- Laboratory of Cardiovascular Immunology, Institute of Cardiology, Union Hospital, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
| | - Qian Dong
- Laboratory of Cardiovascular Immunology, Institute of Cardiology, Union Hospital, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
| | - Xiaobo Mao
- Laboratory of Cardiovascular Immunology, Institute of Cardiology, Union Hospital, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
| | - Kai Meng
- Laboratory of Cardiovascular Immunology, Institute of Cardiology, Union Hospital, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
| | - Xiaoqi Zhao
- Laboratory of Cardiovascular Immunology, Institute of Cardiology, Union Hospital, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
| | - Qingwei Ji
- Department of Cardiology, Beijing Anzhen Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China; Department of Cardiology, the People's Hospital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Nanning, China
| | - Bangwei Wu
- Department of Cardiology, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Yucheng Zhong
- Laboratory of Cardiovascular Immunology, Institute of Cardiology, Union Hospital, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
| | - Zhengfeng Zhu
- Laboratory of Cardiovascular Immunology, Institute of Cardiology, Union Hospital, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
| | - Yuzhou Liu
- Laboratory of Cardiovascular Immunology, Institute of Cardiology, Union Hospital, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
| | - Wei Zhang
- Laboratory of Cardiovascular Immunology, Institute of Cardiology, Union Hospital, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
| | - Hasahya Tony
- Laboratory of Cardiovascular Immunology, Institute of Cardiology, Union Hospital, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
| | - Huairui Shi
- Laboratory of Cardiovascular Immunology, Institute of Cardiology, Union Hospital, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
| | - Qiutang Zeng
- Laboratory of Cardiovascular Immunology, Institute of Cardiology, Union Hospital, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.
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Scalea JR, Torabi R, Tena A, Tasaki M, Gillon BC, Moran S, Cormack T, Villani V, Shimizu A, Sachs DH, Yamada K. The rejuvenating effects of leuprolide acetate on the aged baboon's thymus. Transpl Immunol 2014; 31:134-9. [PMID: 25240733 DOI: 10.1016/j.trim.2014.09.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/27/2014] [Revised: 09/02/2014] [Accepted: 09/05/2014] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND We have previously demonstrated that the juvenile thymus plays an essential role in tolerance induced by both renal transplantation and a short course of calcineurin inhibitors. Aged thymi have a decreased ability to induce tolerance. Luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) is known to pharmacologically rejuvenate the thymus in rodents. In order to develop a clinically applicable regimen of transplantation tolerance in adults, we sought to determine if thymic rejuvenation would occur with LHRH agonism in non-human primates. METHODS AND RESULTS Thymic rejuvenation was evaluated by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), histology, as well as in-vitro cellular and molecular tests. Four aged male hamadryas baboons underwent subcutaneous injection of a 3-month depot of Lupron (11.25mg; LI) and were followed for 3 months. Thymi increased volumetrically by MRI. After LI, thymic cellularity markedly increased within the cortical and medullary thymus. Additionally, a significant increase in the CD4(+)/CD45RA(hi+) population in the peripheral blood occurred for 50 days after LI, and flow cytometry of thymic tissue revealed a large increase in the percentage of CD4(+)/CD8(+) cells. TREC assay corroborated enhancement in thymic function. CONCLUSION These data indicate that LI is associated with thymic rejuvenation in baboons, and further confirm that extrinsic factors play an important role in thymic rejuvenation in a non-human primate model.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joseph R Scalea
- Transplantation Biology Research Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02129, United States; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02129, United States
| | - Radbeh Torabi
- Transplantation Biology Research Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02129, United States; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02129, United States
| | - Aseda Tena
- Transplantation Biology Research Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02129, United States; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02129, United States
| | - Masayuki Tasaki
- Transplantation Biology Research Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02129, United States; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02129, United States
| | - Bradford C Gillon
- Transplantation Biology Research Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02129, United States; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02129, United States
| | - Shannon Moran
- Transplantation Biology Research Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02129, United States; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02129, United States
| | - Taylor Cormack
- Transplantation Biology Research Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02129, United States; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02129, United States
| | - Vincenzo Villani
- Transplantation Biology Research Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02129, United States; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02129, United States
| | - Akira Shimizu
- Transplantation Biology Research Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02129, United States; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02129, United States
| | - David H Sachs
- Transplantation Biology Research Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02129, United States; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02129, United States
| | - Kazuhiko Yamada
- Transplantation Biology Research Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02129, United States; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02129, United States
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Jouanneau E, Black KL, Veiga L, Cordner R, Goverdhana S, Zhai Y, Zhang XX, Panwar A, Mardiros A, Wang H, Gragg A, Zandian M, Irvin DK, Wheeler CJ. Intrinsically de-sialylated CD103(+) CD8 T cells mediate beneficial anti-glioma immune responses. Cancer Immunol Immunother 2014; 63:911-24. [PMID: 24893855 PMCID: PMC11029428 DOI: 10.1007/s00262-014-1559-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/03/2013] [Accepted: 05/16/2014] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Cancer vaccines reproducibly cure laboratory animals and reveal encouraging trends in brain tumor (glioma) patients. Identifying parameters governing beneficial vaccine-induced responses may lead to the improvement of glioma immunotherapies. CD103(+) CD8 T cells dominate post-vaccine responses in human glioma patients for unknown reasons, but may be related to recent thymic emigrant (RTE) status. Importantly, CD8 RTE metrics correlated with beneficial immune responses in vaccinated glioma patients. METHODS We show by flow cytometry that murine and human CD103(+) CD8 T cells respond better than their CD103(-) counterparts to tumor peptide-MHC I (pMHC I) stimulation in vitro and to tumor antigens on gliomas in vivo. RESULTS Glioma responsive T cells from mice and humans both exhibited intrinsic de-sialylation-affecting CD8 beta. Modulation of CD8 T cell sialic acid with neuraminidase and ST3Gal-II revealed de-sialylation was necessary and sufficient for promiscuous binding to and stimulation by tumor pMHC I. Moreover, de-sialylated status was required for adoptive CD8 T cells and lymphocytes to decrease GL26 glioma invasiveness and increase host survival in vivo. Finally, increased tumor ST3Gal-II expression correlated with clinical vaccine failure in a meta-analysis of high-grade glioma patients. CONCLUSIONS Taken together, these findings suggest that de-sialylation of CD8 is required for hyper-responsiveness and beneficial anti-glioma activity by CD8 T cells. Because CD8 de-sialylation can be induced with exogenous enzymes (and appears particularly scarce on human T cells), it represents a promising target for clinical glioma vaccine improvement.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emmanuel Jouanneau
- Department of Neurosurgery, Cedars Sinai Medical Center, Advanced Health Sciences Pavilion, Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute, 127 S. San Vicente Blvd, Suite A8113, Los Angeles, CA 90048 USA
- Present Address: Department of Neurosurgery, Neurological Hospital and INSERM 842 Research Unit, Claude Bernard University, Lyon, France
| | - Keith L. Black
- Department of Neurosurgery, Cedars Sinai Medical Center, Advanced Health Sciences Pavilion, Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute, 127 S. San Vicente Blvd, Suite A8113, Los Angeles, CA 90048 USA
| | - Lucia Veiga
- Department of Neurosurgery, Cedars Sinai Medical Center, Advanced Health Sciences Pavilion, Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute, 127 S. San Vicente Blvd, Suite A8113, Los Angeles, CA 90048 USA
| | - Ryan Cordner
- Department of Neurosurgery, Cedars Sinai Medical Center, Advanced Health Sciences Pavilion, Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute, 127 S. San Vicente Blvd, Suite A8113, Los Angeles, CA 90048 USA
| | - Shyam Goverdhana
- Department of Neurosurgery, Cedars Sinai Medical Center, Advanced Health Sciences Pavilion, Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute, 127 S. San Vicente Blvd, Suite A8113, Los Angeles, CA 90048 USA
| | - Yuying Zhai
- Department of Neurosurgery, Cedars Sinai Medical Center, Advanced Health Sciences Pavilion, Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute, 127 S. San Vicente Blvd, Suite A8113, Los Angeles, CA 90048 USA
| | - Xiao-xue Zhang
- Department of Neurosurgery, Cedars Sinai Medical Center, Advanced Health Sciences Pavilion, Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute, 127 S. San Vicente Blvd, Suite A8113, Los Angeles, CA 90048 USA
| | - Akanksha Panwar
- Department of Neurosurgery, Cedars Sinai Medical Center, Advanced Health Sciences Pavilion, Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute, 127 S. San Vicente Blvd, Suite A8113, Los Angeles, CA 90048 USA
| | - Armen Mardiros
- Department of Neurosurgery, Cedars Sinai Medical Center, Advanced Health Sciences Pavilion, Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute, 127 S. San Vicente Blvd, Suite A8113, Los Angeles, CA 90048 USA
- Present Address: Department of Cancer Immunotherapeutics and Tumor Immunology, City of Hope National Medical Center, Duarte, CA 91010 USA
| | - HongQiang Wang
- Department of Neurosurgery, Cedars Sinai Medical Center, Advanced Health Sciences Pavilion, Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute, 127 S. San Vicente Blvd, Suite A8113, Los Angeles, CA 90048 USA
| | - Ashley Gragg
- Department of Neurosurgery, Cedars Sinai Medical Center, Advanced Health Sciences Pavilion, Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute, 127 S. San Vicente Blvd, Suite A8113, Los Angeles, CA 90048 USA
| | - Mandana Zandian
- Department of Neurosurgery, Cedars Sinai Medical Center, Advanced Health Sciences Pavilion, Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute, 127 S. San Vicente Blvd, Suite A8113, Los Angeles, CA 90048 USA
| | - Dwain K. Irvin
- Department of Neurosurgery, Cedars Sinai Medical Center, Advanced Health Sciences Pavilion, Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute, 127 S. San Vicente Blvd, Suite A8113, Los Angeles, CA 90048 USA
| | - Christopher J. Wheeler
- Department of Neurosurgery, Cedars Sinai Medical Center, Advanced Health Sciences Pavilion, Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute, 127 S. San Vicente Blvd, Suite A8113, Los Angeles, CA 90048 USA
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Bredenkamp N, Nowell CS, Blackburn CC. Regeneration of the aged thymus by a single transcription factor. Development 2014; 141:1627-37. [PMID: 24715454 PMCID: PMC3978836 DOI: 10.1242/dev.103614] [Citation(s) in RCA: 127] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Thymic involution is central to the decline in immune system function that occurs with age. By regenerating the thymus, it may therefore be possible to improve the ability of the aged immune system to respond to novel antigens. Recently, diminished expression of the thymic epithelial cell (TEC)-specific transcription factor Forkhead box N1 (FOXN1) has been implicated as a component of the mechanism regulating age-related involution. The effects of upregulating FOXN1 function in the aged thymus are, however, unknown. Here, we show that forced, TEC-specific upregulation of FOXN1 in the fully involuted thymus of aged mice results in robust thymus regeneration characterized by increased thymopoiesis and increased naive T cell output. We demonstrate that the regenerated organ closely resembles the juvenile thymus in terms of architecture and gene expression profile, and further show that this FOXN1-mediated regeneration stems from an enlarged TEC compartment, rebuilt from progenitor TECs. Collectively, our data establish that upregulation of a single transcription factor can substantially reverse age-related thymic involution, identifying FOXN1 as a specific target for improving thymus function and, thus, immune competence in patients. More widely, they demonstrate that organ regeneration in an aged mammal can be directed by manipulation of a single transcription factor, providing a provocative paradigm that may be of broad impact for regenerative biology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicholas Bredenkamp
- Medical Research Council Centre for Regenerative Medicine, Institute for Stem Cell Research, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, SCRM Building, 5 Little France Drive, Edinburgh EH16 4UU, UK
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Lanzer KG, Johnson LL, Woodland DL, Blackman MA. Impact of ageing on the response and repertoire of influenza virus-specific CD4 T cells. IMMUNITY & AGEING 2014; 11:9. [PMID: 24999367 PMCID: PMC4082670 DOI: 10.1186/1742-4933-11-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/22/2014] [Accepted: 05/04/2014] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Ageing has been shown to reduce CD8 T cell repertoire diversity and immune responses against influenza virus infection in mice. In contrast, less is known about the impact of ageing on CD4 T cell repertoire diversity and immune response to influenza virus infection. RESULTS The CD4 T cell response was followed after infection of young and aged C57BL/6 mice with influenza virus using a tetramer specific for an immunodominant MHC class II epitope of the influenza virus nucleoprotein. The appearance of virus-specific CD4 T cells in the lung airways of aged mice was delayed compared to young mice, but the overall peak number and cytokine secretion profile of responding CD4 T cells was not greatly perturbed. In addition, the T cell repertoire of responding cells, determined using T cell receptor Vβ analysis, failed to show the profound effect of age we previously described for CD8 T cells. The reduced impact of age on influenza-specific CD4 T cells was consistent with a reduced effect of age on the overall CD4 compared with the CD8 T cell repertoire in specific pathogen free mice. Aged mice that were thymectomized as young adults showed an enhanced loss of the epitope-specific CD4 T cell response after influenza virus infection compared with age-matched sham-thymectomized mice, suggesting that a reduced repertoire can contribute to impaired responsiveness. CONCLUSIONS The diversity of the CD4 T cell repertoire and response to influenza virus is not as profoundly impaired by ageing in C57BL/6 mice as previously shown for CD8 T cells. However, adult thymectomy enhanced the impact of ageing on the response. Understanding the impact of ageing on CD4 T cell responses to influenza virus infection is an important prerequisite for developing better vaccines for the elderly.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - David L Woodland
- Trudeau Institute, 154 Algonquin Ave, Saranac Lake, NY 12983, USA ; Keystone Symposia, 160 US Highway 6, Suite 200, Silverthorne, CO 80498, USA
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Yoshida K, Nakashima E, Kubo Y, Yamaoka M, Kajimura J, Kyoizumi S, Hayashi T, Ohishi W, Kusunoki Y. Inverse associations between obesity indicators and thymic T-cell production levels in aging atomic-bomb survivors. PLoS One 2014; 9:e91985. [PMID: 24651652 PMCID: PMC3961282 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0091985] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2013] [Accepted: 02/16/2014] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Reduction of the naive T-cell population represents a deteriorating state in the immune system that occurs with advancing age. In animal model studies, obesity compromises the T-cell immune system as a result of enhanced adipogenesis in primary lymphoid organs and systemic inflammation. In this study, to test the hypothesis that obesity may contribute to the aging of human T-cell immunity, a thousand atomic-bomb survivors were examined for obesity status and ability to produce naive T cells, i.e., T-cell receptor excision circle (TREC) numbers in CD4 and CD8 T cells. The number of TRECs showed a strong positive correlation with naive T cell numbers, and lower TREC numbers were associated with higher age. We found that the TREC number was inversely associated with levels of obesity indicators (BMI, hemoglobin A1c) and serum CRP levels. Development of type-2 diabetes and fatty liver was also associated with lower TREC numbers. This population study suggests that obesity with enhanced inflammation is involved in aging of the human T-cell immune system. Given the fact that obesity increases the risk of numerous age-related diseases, attenuated immune competence is a possible mechanistic link between obesity and disease development among the elderly.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kengo Yoshida
- Department of Radiobiology/Molecular Epidemiology, Radiation Effects Research Foundation, Hiroshima, Japan
- * E-mail:
| | - Eiji Nakashima
- Department of Statistics, Radiation Effects Research Foundation, Hiroshima, Japan
| | - Yoshiko Kubo
- Department of Radiobiology/Molecular Epidemiology, Radiation Effects Research Foundation, Hiroshima, Japan
| | - Mika Yamaoka
- Department of Radiobiology/Molecular Epidemiology, Radiation Effects Research Foundation, Hiroshima, Japan
| | - Junko Kajimura
- Department of Radiobiology/Molecular Epidemiology, Radiation Effects Research Foundation, Hiroshima, Japan
| | - Seishi Kyoizumi
- Department of Radiobiology/Molecular Epidemiology, Radiation Effects Research Foundation, Hiroshima, Japan
| | - Tomonori Hayashi
- Department of Radiobiology/Molecular Epidemiology, Radiation Effects Research Foundation, Hiroshima, Japan
| | - Waka Ohishi
- Department of Clinical Studies, Radiation Effects Research Foundation, Hiroshima, Japan
| | - Yoichiro Kusunoki
- Department of Radiobiology/Molecular Epidemiology, Radiation Effects Research Foundation, Hiroshima, Japan
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50
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Appay V, Sauce D. Naive T cells: the crux of cellular immune aging? Exp Gerontol 2014; 54:90-3. [PMID: 24440387 DOI: 10.1016/j.exger.2014.01.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 71] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/15/2013] [Revised: 01/03/2014] [Accepted: 01/06/2014] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
When encountering foreign antigens, naïve T cells become activated and differentiate into effector and memory T cells. They represent therefore the primary source to mount an immune response against pathogens or tumors. Recent evidence of both quantitative and qualitative alterations of naïve T cells has accumulated in aged mice, indicating that the successful generation of primary T cell responses from the naïve T cell pool may be compromised with old age. However, the vast majority of the data supporting compromised naïve T cell priming efficacy with old age have been produced in animal models, and the situation is much less clear in humans. In the elderly, the involution of the thymus and the associated decline in thymic output result in a decreased number of naïve T cells, which is partially compensated by homeostatic proliferation. Emerging evidence suggest that alterations of the TCR repertoire diversity and intrinsic defects of old CD4(+) naïve T cells may impact on their responsiveness to antigenic stimulation. Increasing focus on the study of naïve T cells (in particular CD8(+)) in old humans are needed to fill the gaps in our understanding of reduced cellular immunity with aging.
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Affiliation(s)
- Victor Appay
- Sorbonne Universités, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, CR7, Centre d'Immunologie et des Maladies Infectieuses (CIMI), F-75013, Paris, France.
| | - Delphine Sauce
- Sorbonne Universités, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, CR7, Centre d'Immunologie et des Maladies Infectieuses (CIMI), F-75013, Paris, France
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