Aging promotes reorganization of the CD4 T cell landscape toward extreme regulatory and effector phenotypes

Sci Adv. 2019 Aug 21;5(8):eaaw8330. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aaw8330. eCollection 2019 Aug.

Abstract

Age-associated changes in CD4 T-cell functionality have been linked to chronic inflammation and decreased immunity. However, a detailed characterization of CD4 T cell phenotypes that could explain these dysregulated functional properties is lacking. We used single-cell RNA sequencing and multidimensional protein analyses to profile thousands of CD4 T cells obtained from young and old mice. We found that the landscape of CD4 T cell subsets differs markedly between young and old mice, such that three cell subsets-exhausted, cytotoxic, and activated regulatory T cells (aTregs)-appear rarely in young mice but gradually accumulate with age. Most unexpected were the extreme pro- and anti-inflammatory phenotypes of cytotoxic CD4 T cells and aTregs, respectively. These findings provide a comprehensive view of the dynamic reorganization of the CD4 T cell milieu with age and illuminate dominant subsets associated with chronic inflammation and immunity decline, suggesting new therapeutic avenues for age-related diseases.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Aging / immunology*
  • Aging / metabolism*
  • Animals
  • CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / immunology*
  • CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / metabolism*
  • High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing
  • Immunomodulation*
  • Mice
  • Phenotype*
  • Sequence Analysis, RNA
  • Single-Cell Analysis
  • T-Lymphocyte Subsets / immunology
  • T-Lymphocyte Subsets / metabolism