Ageing gracefully
The EC-funded T-CIA project studied the ageing process of human T lymphocytes. Project partners carried out comparisons between young and old, very healthy and less healthy individuals. The aim was to elucidate which characteristics can be attributed to the ageing of the immune system and which could be due to pathogenic causes, thus gaining a clearer understanding of the underlying processes. Project partner, University of Tubingen set out to develop a series of in vitro models of T cell ageing, in an effort to define appropriate biomarkers for the process. Biomarkers predictive of T cell dysfunction as a result of ageing could pave the way for the development of remediation approaches in vivo. Researchers observed that the genetic characteristics of healthy aged donors are indicative of superior immune responsiveness even in chronic antigenic stress. In vitro models could provide evidence of these characteristics, which include polymorphisms in the genes encoding for cytokines and cytokine receptors. As such, this information could be of particular importance to healthy ageing initiatives at different levels of development.
