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Lookup NU author(s): Tegan McTaggart, Jing Xuan LimORCiD, Dr Katie SmithORCiD, Bronagh Heaney, Dr David McDonald, Dr Gill HulmeORCiD, Raf Hussain, Dr Jonathan Coxhead, Professor Derek MannORCiD, Professor Avan SayerORCiD, Dr Antoneta GranicORCiD, Dr Shoba AmarnathORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
© 2025 The Author(s). Aging Cell published by Anatomical Society and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.Regulatory T cells (Tregs) are important in maintaining tolerance and are key players in immunity. In aging, increased Treg function along with low-grade inflammation has been reported. This dichotomy of enhanced Treg function along with inflammation highlights the importance of understanding Treg biology and communication patterns in the very old. In this proof-of-concept study, we demonstrate that aged Tregs (85 years) do not significantly communicate with CD4+ and CD8+ T effectors when compared with healthy < 66-year-olds. Of note was the enhanced communication of aged Tregs with CD3+CD8+CD56+CD161− NK-like T-cell populations, which are important in antitumor and chronic viral diseases in older individuals. We found that in turn this population of killer-like T cells showed diminished cytotoxic characteristics, and killer receptor expression. Taken together, our proof-of-concept study delineates the biology of Tregs and identifies previously undefined communication patterns in the very old.
Author(s): McTaggart T, Lim JX, Smith KJ, Heaney B, McDonald D, Hulme G, Hussain R, Coxhead J, Mann DA, Sayer AA, Granic A, Amarnath S
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Aging Cell
Year: 2025
Pages: epub ahead of print
Online publication date: 18/03/2025
Acceptance date: 26/02/2025
Date deposited: 09/04/2025
ISSN (print): 1474-9718
ISSN (electronic): 1474-9726
Publisher: John Wiley and Sons Inc
URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/acel.70044
DOI: 10.1111/acel.70044
Data Access Statement: All the data are contained within this manuscript. Single-cell data have been deposited at GEO under accession number GSE280319, and the code is deposited in GitHub at https://github.com/teganmct/human scRNAseq_Age.
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