T Cells Fight Off Aging With The Aid of Specific Cells

Immune cells age, like all of the other cells in our body. They gradually lose their ability to fight off illness including cancer, infection, and disease.

Cellular senescence or deterioration of cells to grow and divide was formerly assumed to be an inevitable result of common infection and aging. However, a study published last 2022 September 15  in Nature Cell Biology raises the possibility that the rate at which T cells deplete may be influenced by an early contact between T cells and antigen presentation cells (APCs) in the immune response to viruses.

 

Telomeres’ Role and Purpose 

Chromosomes’ telomeres, are lengthy, repeating DNA sequences that guard against wearing out. With each cell division, aging cells’ telomeres become progressively shorter until eventually they are unable to divide. According to a recent study, T cells, the white blood cells that fight viruses, receive their telomeres from APCs, the cells that initially trigger their immune response by presenting them with a foreign antigen, after infection.

Prolonged Cellular Life Through APC’s Telomeres

According to earlier research from other teams, T cells that are more stem cell-like have a longer lifespan than those that have undergone differentiation. The findings imply that when T cells receive telomeres from APCs, some T cells’ fate—whether they develop senescence or not—is predetermined. This implies that some T cells have their fates predetermined even before the immune response has begun. According to an immunologist Lanna, “that goes against immune senescence dogma.”