Cuttine edge: T cells from aged mice are resistant to depletion early during virus infection.
Aging is associated with decreased expansion of T cells upon stimulation. In young mice, infection induces a transient T cell depletion followed by the development of an Ag-specific T cell response that controls the infection. We found that T cells were depleted early after infection with E55 + murine leukemia retrovirus in young, but not aged, mice. Adoptive transfer experiments showed donor T cells of young, but not aged, mice were depleted due to apoptosis in various tissues of young recipients. However, T cells of neither young nor aged donors were depleted in aged recipients. These results indicate that both environmental and intrinsic cellular properties limit depletion of T cells of aged mice and suggest a novel explanation for the decreased T cell response associated with aging.
D019264:Adoptive Transfer; D000375:Aging / Q000276:immunology*; D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000276:immunology; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000276:immunology; D002455:Cell Division / Q000276:immunology; D002465:Cell Movement / Q000276:immunology; D007113:Immunity, Innate; D009052:Leukemia Virus, Murine / Q000276:immunology*; D007942:Leukemia, Experimental / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology; D008212:Lymphocyte Depletion / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D012192:Retroviridae Infections / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D016176:T-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000637:transplantation / Q000821:virology; D013997:Time Factors; D014412:Tumor Virus Infections / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology