title: Lymphocyte maintenance during healthy aging requires no substantial alterations in cellular turnover.
abstract: In healthy humans, lymphocyte populations are maintained at a relatively constant size throughout life, reflecting a balance between lymphocyte production and loss. Given the profound immunological changes that occur during healthy aging, including a significant decline in T-cell production by the thymus, lymphocyte maintenance in the elderly is generally thought to require homeostatic alterations in lymphocyte dynamics. Surprisingly, using in vivo (2) H2 O labeling, we find similar dynamics of most lymphocyte subsets between young adult and elderly healthy individuals. As the contribution of thymic output to T-cell production is only minor from young adulthood onward, compensatory increases in peripheral T-cell division rates are not required to maintain the T-cell pool, despite a tenfold decline in thymic output. These fundamental insights will aid the interpretation of further research into aging and clinical conditions related to disturbed lymphocyte dynamics.
authors: Laboratory of Translational Immunology, Department of Immunology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Lundlaan 6, 3584 EA, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors: Liset
authors: L
authors: Westera
authors: Vera
authors: V
authors: van Hoeven
authors: Julia
authors: J
authors: Drylewicz
authors: Gerrit
authors: G
authors: Spierenburg
authors: Jeroen F
authors: JF
authors: van Velzen
authors: Rob J
authors: RJ
authors: de Boer
authors: Kiki
authors: K
authors: Tesselaar
authors: José A M
authors: JA
authors: Borghans
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000276:immunology / Q000502:physiology*; D003903:Deuterium; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006706:Homeostasis; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000166:cytology* / Q000276:immunology; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D014867:Water; D003903:Deuterium
keywords: healthy aging; homeostasis; lymphocyte turnover; mathematical modeling; stable isotope labeling; thymus involution
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