Impact of age, sex and CMV-infection on peripheral T cell phenotypes: results from the Berlin BASE-II Study.
Advancing age is characterized by functional and phenotypic alterations in the distribution of circulating T-cell subsets, some of which are exacerbated by a latent infection with the persistent herpesvirus, cytomegalovirus (CMV). The influence of age, sex and CMV-infection on T-cell subpopulations in the peripheral blood remains incompletely understood. Here, T cells from 157 participants of the Berlin Aging Study II (BASE-II) were characterized at 21-34 (n = 59) and 62-85 (n = 98) years of age. We found that the frequency of naïve CD8(+) T cells was significantly lower in the older group than in the young, and was different in men and women. Elderly men had a significantly lower proportion of naïve CD8(+) T cells than younger men, regardless of their CMV-status, but in older women, this was seen only in the CMV-seropositive group. Reciprocally, older men had a higher proportion of late-differentiated, potentially "senescent" CD57(+) T cells. Thus, T-cell senescence may be more pronounced in older men than women. Within the CD4(+) population, in the elderly of both sexes there was a significantly higher proportion of late-differentiated TEMRA cells (T effector memory cells re-expressing CD45RA), but these were present exclusively in CMV-positive subjects. Finally, for the first time, we examined the so-called TSCM cell (T-stem cell-like memory) subpopulations in both CD4(+) and CD8(+) subsets and found that neither CMV-seropositivity nor age or sex affected their frequencies. This study confirms significant cross-sectional age-associated differences of T-cell subset distribution in a representative German urban population and emphasizes the impact of both sex and CMV-infection on T-cell naïve and memory phenotypes, but unaffected frequencies of T-stem cell-like memory cells.
Center for Medical Research, University of Tübingen, Waldhörnlestr. 22, 72072, Tübingen, Germany.
Svetlana
S
Di Benedetto
Evelyna
E
Derhovanessian
Elisabeth
E
Steinhagen-Thiessen
David
D
Goldeck
Ludmila
L
Müller
Graham
G
Pawelec
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000276:immunology*; D001604:Berlin; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000032:analysis; D018791:CD4 Lymphocyte Count; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology* / Q000821:virology; D018414:CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology* / Q000821:virology; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D016922:Cellular Senescence; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003587:Cytomegalovirus / Q000276:immunology* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D003586:Cytomegalovirus Infections / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000276:immunology* / Q000821:virology; D005260:Female; D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions; D006801:Humans; D007156:Immunologic Memory; D016130:Immunophenotyping; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010641:Phenotype; D012737:Sex Factors; D014504:Urban Health; D055815:Young Adult
D015415:Biomarkers