2018 was a good year for studies of human immunology. A growing number of analyses are now being carried out directly on human samples, leading to novel findings and an increasing understanding of immune system variation. Systems-level analyses that simultaneously capture information about many immune cell populations and proteins are particularly useful for revealing interesting patterns among highly variable humans. This year, several such systems-level analyses were carried out to address immune variation between different age groups, revealing global patterns of immune system development in the young and immune system decline in the elderly. Here, I highlight some of these key advances.
Key advances
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A first systems-level description of the human immune system in newborn children shows that marked changes to the immune system occur during the first weeks of life.
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Developmental changes to the immune system in newborns follow a shared trajectory and are likely driven by environmental exposures.
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Functional gene expression responses of human blood cells to common pathogens differ broadly across age groups.
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Divergent immune cell composition with advanced age is associated with chromatin changes that are induced by environmental influences over the course of life.
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Acknowledgements
I would like to thank members of my laboratory for inspiring discussions regarding the papers described above.
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Brodin, P. Systems-level patterns emerge. Nat Rev Immunol 19, 87–88 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41577-018-0106-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41577-018-0106-3
