Perturbed CD8 T cell immunity across universal influenza epitopes in the elderly

THO Nguyen; S Sant; NL Bird; EJ Grant; EB Clemens; M Koutsakos; SA Valkenburg; S Gras; M Lappas; A Jaworowski; J Crowe; L Loh; K Kedzierska

Journal article

Perturbed CD8 T cell immunity across universal influenza epitopes in the elderly

THO Nguyen, S Sant, NL Bird, EJ Grant, EB Clemens, M Koutsakos, SA Valkenburg, S Gras, M Lappas, A Jaworowski, J Crowe, L Loh, K Kedzierska

Journal of Leukocyte Biology | OXFORD UNIV PRESS | Published : 2018

DOI: 10.1189/jlb.5MA0517-207R

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Abstract

Influenza epidemics lead to severe illness, life-threatening complications, and deaths, especially in the elderly. As CD8+ T cells are associated with rapid recovery from influenza, we investigated the effects of aging on antigen-specific CD8+ T cells across the universal influenza epitopes in humans. We show that aging is characterized by altered frequencies in T cell subsets, with naive T cells being partially replaced by activated effector/memory populations. Although we observed no striking differences in TCR signaling capacity, T cells in the elderly had increased expression of transcription factors Eomes and T-bet, and such changes were most apparent in CD8+ T cells. Strikingly, the nu..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Oanh Nguyen Author

Bridie Clemens Author

Marios Koutsakos Author

Sophie Valkenburg Author

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Grants

Awarded by National Health and Medical Research Council

Funding Acknowledgements

S.S. is a recipient of the Victoria India Doctoral Scholarship and Melbourne International Fee Remission Scholarship (MIFRS), University of Melbourne. E.J.G. is an Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) CJ Martin Fellow. E.B.C. is an NHMRC Peter Doherty Fellow. M.K. is supported by a Melbourne International Research Scholarship (MIRS) and MIFRS. M.L. is supported by an NHMRC Career Development Fellowship (ID 1047025). K.K. is supported by an NHMRC program grant (ID 1071916) and the NHMRC Senior Research Fellowship Level B. The authors thank Thakshila Amarasena and Sheilajen Alcantara for their technical assistance. The authors also thank all donors for donating blood for this study and Bernie McCudden for collecting blood. The authors thank the clinical research midwives, Genevieve Christophers, Gabrielle Pell, and Rachel Murdoch, for the CB sample collection and the Obstetrics and Midwifery staff of Mercy Hospital for Women for their cooperation. The authors thank Matthew Caverley and Paul Thomas for their technical expertise in TCR sequence analysis.