Ageing, in both mice and humans, results in the replacement of naive T cells by memory T cells. Chiu et al. now show that virtual memory CD8+ T cells, which are unprimed memory-like CD8+ T cells, develop in the absence of antigenic stimulation and constitute the majority of memory CD8+ T cells in aged mice. Using unimmunized aged mice, Renkema et al. found that, in addition to the maintenance of naive T cells, T cell receptor (TCR) signals are crucial for the emergence of virtual memory CD8+ T cells. Furthermore, the authors found that both a reduction in the number of naive T cell precursors and an impaired ability of virtual memory T cells to proliferate contributed to reduced T cell responses with ageing. These studies highlight a central role for virtual memory CD8+ T cells and TCR signalling in ageing-related changes in CD8+ T cells.
References
Chiu, B.-C. et al. Central memory CD8 T cells in aged mice are virtual memory cells. J. Immunol. 191, 5793–5796 (2013)
Renkema, K. R. et al. Two separate defects affecting true naive or virtual memory T cell precursors combine to reduce naive T cell responses. J. Immunol. http://dx.doi.org/10.4049/jimmunol.1301453 (2013)
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Kugelberg, E. The effect of ageing on CD8+ T cells. Nat Rev Immunol 14, 3 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nri3593
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nri3593
