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Will telomere erosion lead to a loss of T-cell memory?

Nature Reviews Immunology volume 4, pages 737–743 (2004)Cite this article

Abstract

Evidence is accumulating that elderly individuals are more susceptible to infection with organisms to which they were previously immune. This indicates that there might be a limit to the persistence of immune memory. This fact is particularly disturbing because the average life expectancy of humans has almost doubled in the past 200 years and is still increasing. We discuss mechanisms that might constrain the persistence of memory T cells and consider whether humans will suffer from memory T-cell exhaustion as life expectancy increases.

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Figure 1: Human life expectancy.
Figure 2: Mechanism of telomere erosion in T cells.
Figure 3: Constraints on human T-cell memory during ageing.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank M. Vukmanovic-Stejic, R. Faragher, J. Fletcher and R. Aspinall for helpful discussions. This work was supported by grants from Research Into Ageing, London, United Kingdom, and The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, United Kingdom.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. the Department of Immunology and Molecular Pathology, Division of Infection and Immunity, The Windeyer Building, 46 Cleveland Street, Royal Free and University College Medical School, London, W1T 4JF, UK

    Arne N. Akbar

  2. the Edward Jenner Institute for Vaccine Research, Compton, Berks, RG20 7NN, UK

    Peter C. L. Beverley

  3. the Medical Research Council Centre for Immune Regulation, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 4TT, UK

    Mike Salmon

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  1. Arne N. Akbar
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Correspondence to Arne N. Akbar.

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DATABASES

Entrez Gene

BCL-2

CCR7

CD4

CD8

CD27

CD28

CD45

CD62 ligand

CD95

dyskerin

IFN-γ

KLRG1

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Akbar, A., Beverley, P. & Salmon, M. Will telomere erosion lead to a loss of T-cell memory?. Nat Rev Immunol 4, 737–743 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nri1440

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