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* University of California AIDS Institute and Department of Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095;
Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095; and
Howard Brown Health Center and Fineberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University; Chicago, IL 60613
Despite thymic involution, the number of naive CD4+ T cells diminishes slowly during aging, suggesting considerable peripheral homeostatic expansion of these cells. To investigate the mechanisms behind, and consequences of, naive CD4+ T cell homeostasis, we evaluated the age-dependent dynamics of the naive CD4+ T cell subsets CD45RA+CD31+ and CD45RA+CD31–. Using both a cross-sectional and longitudinal study design, we measured the relative proportion of both subsets in individuals ranging from 22 to 73 years of age and quantified TCR excision circle content within those subsets as an indicator of proliferative history. Our findings demonstrate that waning thymic output results in a decrease in CD45RA+CD31+ naive CD4+ T cells over time, although we noted considerable individual variability in the kinetics of this change. In contrast, there was no significant decline in the CD45RA+CD31– naive CD4+ T cell subset due to extensive peripheral proliferation. Our longitudinal data are the first to demonstrate that the CD45RA+CD31+CD4+ subset also undergoes some in vivo proliferation without immediate loss of CD31, resulting in an accumulation of CD45RA+CD31+ proliferative offspring. Aging was associated with telomere shortening within both subsets, raising the possibility that accumulation of proliferative offspring contributes to senescence of the naive CD4+ T cell compartment in the elderly. In contrast, we observed retention of clonal TCR diversity despite peripheral expansion, although this analysis did not include individuals over 65 years of age. Our results provide insight into naive CD4+ T cell homeostasis during aging that can be used to better understand the mechanisms that may contribute to immunosenescence within this compartment.
The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked advertisement in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.
1 This study was supported by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Grants AI035040, AI037613, and AI058845 awarded to B.D.J. The longitudinal samples were obtained from the Multi-Center AIDS Cohort Study with centers located at: The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (Joseph Margolick); Howard Brown Health Center and Northwestern University Medical School (John Phair); University of California, Los Angeles (Roger Detels); University of Pittsburgh (Charles Rinaldo); and Data Analysis Center (Lisa Jacobson). The Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study is funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, with additional supplemental funding from the National Cancer Institute and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute: UO1-AI-35042, 5-M01-RR-00052 (GCRC), UO1-AI-35043, UO1-AI-37984, UO1-AI-35039, UO1-AI-35040, UO1-AI-37613, and UO1-AI-35041.
2 Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Beth D. Jamieson, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, 12-240 Factor Boulevard, 10833 Le Conte, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1745. E-mail address: jamieson{at}mednet.ucla.edu
3 Abbreviation used in this paper: TREC, TCR excision circle.
This article has been cited by other articles:
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  A. Thiel and S. Kohler Comment on "Homeostasis of the Naive CD4+ T Cell Compartment during Aging" J. Immunol., May 15, 2008; 180(10): 6437 - 6437. [Full Text] [PDF]
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R. D. Kilpatrick, T. Rickabaugh, and B. D. Jamieson Response to Comment on "Homeostasis of the Naive CD4+ T Cell Compartment during Aging" J. Immunol., May 15, 2008; 180(10): 6437 - 6437. [Full Text] [PDF]
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