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Aging and frailty immune landscape

Nature Aging volume 2, pages 280–281 (2022)Cite this article

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Frailty is an important age-related prognostic for mortality, and little is known about its immune landscape. Luo et al.1 use single-cell profiling to gather a comprehensive understanding of immune changes that happen from birth to old age, and provide new insights into the often-overlooked state of frailty.

Time marches inexorably on, bringing with it a plethora of changes to our bodies. No tissues or bodily functions are exempt from aging — including the immune system. Immune aging (sometimes referred to as immunosenescence) has been the subject of study for decades2,3,4. However, not all chronological aging brings with it substantial malaise or comorbidity, but some people do go on to develop frailty. Frailty is characterized by multiple symptoms, including a reduction in physical strength, increased vulnerability to disease and overall reduced resilience5,6,7. To better understand the immune phenotype associated with healthy aging versus frailty, Luo et al.1 collected blood samples from the umbilical cord of newborns, as well as blood from young adult, healthy older-adult and frail older-adult individuals. They performed single-cell RNA-sequencing analysis as well as T cell receptor (TCR) V(D)J sequencing and TotalSeq-C, combining single-cell transcriptomic analysis with TCR repertoire and cell-surface protein expression data. The authors discovered novel frailty-specific immune cell characteristics and gene expression signatures based on comprehensive dimensions of the immune landscape of aging and frailty.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Medicine, University College London, London, UK

    Roel P. H. De Maeyer & Arne N. Akbar

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  1. Roel P. H. De Maeyer
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  2. Arne N. Akbar
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Correspondence to Arne N. Akbar.

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De Maeyer, R.P.H., Akbar, A.N. Aging and frailty immune landscape. Nat Aging 2, 280–281 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43587-022-00208-w

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