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Tyrrell DJ, Wragg KM, Chen J, Wang H, Song J, Blin MG, Bolding C, Vardaman D, Giles K, Tidwell H, Ali MA, Janappareddi A, Wood SC, Goldstein DR. Clonally expanded memory CD8 + T cells accumulate in atherosclerotic plaques and are pro-atherogenic in aged mice. Nat Aging 2023; 3:1576-1590. [PMID: 37996758 DOI: 10.1038/s43587-023-00515-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/25/2022] [Accepted: 09/27/2023] [Indexed: 11/25/2023]
Abstract
Aging is a strong risk factor for atherosclerosis and induces accumulation of memory CD8+ T cells in mice and humans. Biological changes that occur with aging lead to enhanced atherosclerosis, yet the role of aging on CD8+ T cells during atherogenesis is unclear. In this study, using femle mice, we found that depletion of CD8+ T cells attenuated atherogenesis in aged, but not young, animals. Furthermore, adoptive transfer of splenic CD8+ T cells from aged wild-type, but not young wild-type, donor mice significantly enhanced atherosclerosis in recipient mice lacking CD8+ T cells. We also characterized T cells in healthy and atherosclerotic young and aged mice by single-cell RNA sequencing. We found specific subsets of age-associated CD8+ T cells, including a Granzyme K+ effector memory subset, that accumulated and was clonally expanded within atherosclerotic plaques. These had transcriptomic signatures of T cell activation, migration, cytotoxicity and exhaustion. Overall, our study identified memory CD8+ T cells as therapeutic targets for atherosclerosis in aging.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel J Tyrrell
- Department of Pathology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA.
- Department of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
| | - Kathleen M Wragg
- Department of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Judy Chen
- Department of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
- Program in Immunology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Hui Wang
- Department of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Jianrui Song
- Department of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Muriel G Blin
- Department of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Chase Bolding
- Department of Pathology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA
| | - Donald Vardaman
- Department of Pathology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA
| | - Kara Giles
- Department of Pathology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA
| | - Harrison Tidwell
- Department of Pathology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA
| | - Md Akkas Ali
- Department of Pathology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA
| | | | - Sherri C Wood
- Department of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Daniel R Goldstein
- Department of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
- Program in Immunology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
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