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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
immunology and microbiology
Human mucosal-associated invariant t cells in older individuals display expanded tcrαβ clonotypes with potent antimicrobial responses
Journal of Immunology, Volume 204, No. 5, Year 2020
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Description
Mucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells are important for immune responses against microbial infections. Although known to undergo marked numerical changes with age in humans, our understanding of how MAIT cells are altered during different phases across the human life span is largely unknown. Although also abundant in the tissues, our study focuses on MAIT cell analyses in blood. Across the human life span, we show that naive-like MAIT cells in umbilical cord blood switch to a central/effector memory-like profile that is sustained into older age. Whereas low-γrade levels of plasma cytokine/chemokine were apparent in older donors (>65 y old), surprisingly, they did not correlate with the ex vivo MAIT hyperinflammatory cytokine profile observed in older adults. Removal of MAIT cells from older individuals and an aged environment resulted in the reversal of the baseline effector molecule profile compaRαβle with MAIT cells from younger adults. An upregulated basal inflammatory profile accounted for reduced Escherichia coli-specific responses in aged MAIT cells compared with their young adult counterparts when fold change in expression levels of GzmB, CD107a, IFN-γ, and TNF was examined. However, the magnitude of antimicrobial MR1-dependent activation remained as potent and polyfunctional as with younger adults. Paired TCRαβ analyses of MAIT cells revealed large clonal expansions in older adults and tissues that rivalled, remarkably, the TCRαβ repertoire diversity of virus-specific CD8+ T cells. These data suggest that MAIT cells in older individuals, although associated with large clonal TCRαβ expansions and increased baseline inflammatory potential, demonstrate plasticity and provide potent antimicrobial immunity. © 2020 by The American Association of Immunologists, Inc.
Authors & Co-Authors
Flanagan, Katie L.
Australia, Launceston
Launceston General Hospital
Australia, Hobart
University of Tasmania
Australia, Clayton
Monash University
Australia, Melbourne
Rmit University
Rossjohn, Jamie
Australia, Clayton
Monash University
United Kingdom, Cardiff
Cardiff University
Thomas, Paul G.
United States, Memphis
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
Eckle, Sidonia Barbara Guiomar
Australia, Melbourne
The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity
McCluskey, James
Australia, Melbourne
The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity
Godfrey, D. I.
Australia, Melbourne
The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity
Kedzierska, Katherine
Australia, Melbourne
The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity
Statistics
Citations: 27
Authors: 7
Affiliations: 11
Identifiers
Doi:
10.4049/jimmunol.1900774
ISSN:
00221767