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Lis A, Zöphel D. Elderly CD8 + T cells in the focus for immunotherapeutic approaches. Aging (Albany NY) 2023; undefined:204747. [PMID: 37204431 DOI: 10.18632/aging.204747] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2023] [Accepted: 03/10/2023] [Indexed: 05/20/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Annette Lis
- Biophysics, Center for Integrative Physiology and Molecular Medicine, School of Medicine, Saarland University, 66421 Homburg, Germany
| | - Dorina Zöphel
- Biophysics, Center for Integrative Physiology and Molecular Medicine, School of Medicine, Saarland University, 66421 Homburg, Germany
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Zöphel D, Kaschek L, Steiner R, Janku S, Chang HF, Lis A. Heterozygous OT-I mice reveal that antigen-specific CD8 + T cells shift from apoptotic to necrotic killers in the elderly. Aging Cell 2023:e13824. [PMID: 36947105 DOI: 10.1111/acel.13824] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/02/2023] [Revised: 02/24/2023] [Accepted: 02/24/2023] [Indexed: 03/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Numerous alterations in CD8+ T cells contribute to impaired immune responses in elderly individuals. However, the discrimination between cell-intrinsic dysfunctions and microenvironmental changes is challenging. TCR transgenic OT-I mice are utilized to investigate CD8+ T-cell immunity, but their immunodeficient phenotype hampers their use especially in aging. Here, we demonstrate that using a heterozygous OT-I model minimizes the current limitations and provides a valuable tool to assess antigen-specific T-cell responses even at old age. We analyzed phenotypic and functional characteristics of CD8+ T cells from OT-I+/+ and OT-I+/- mice to prove the applicability of the heterozygous system. Our data reveal that OVA-activated CD8+ T cells from adult OT-I+/- mice proliferate, differentiate, and exert cytolytic activity equally to their homozygous counterparts. Moreover, common age-related alterations in CD8+ T cells, including naive T-cell deterioration and decreased proliferative capacity, also occur in elderly OT-I+/- mice, indicating the wide range of applications for in vivo and in vitro aging studies. We used the OT-I+/- model to investigate cell-intrinsic alterations affecting the cytotoxic behavior of aged CD8+ T cells after antigen-specific in vitro activation. Time-resolved analysis of antigen-directed target cell lysis confirmed previous observations that the cytotoxic capacity of CD8+ T cells increases with age. Surprisingly, detailed single cell analysis revealed that transcriptional upregulation of perforin in aged CD8+ T cells shifts the mode of target cell death from granzyme-mediated apoptosis to rapid induction of necrosis. This unexpected capability might be beneficial or detrimental for the aging host and requires detailed evaluation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dorina Zöphel
- Department of Biophysics, Center for Integrative Physiology and Molecular Medicine, School of Medicine, Saarland University, 66421, Homburg, Germany
| | - Lea Kaschek
- Department of Biophysics, Center for Integrative Physiology and Molecular Medicine, School of Medicine, Saarland University, 66421, Homburg, Germany
| | - Romy Steiner
- Department of Biophysics, Center for Integrative Physiology and Molecular Medicine, School of Medicine, Saarland University, 66421, Homburg, Germany
| | - Sandra Janku
- Department of Biophysics, Center for Integrative Physiology and Molecular Medicine, School of Medicine, Saarland University, 66421, Homburg, Germany
| | - Hsin-Fang Chang
- Cellular Neurophysiology, Center for Integrative Physiology and Molecular Medicine, School of Medicine, Saarland University, Homburg, Germany
| | - Annette Lis
- Department of Biophysics, Center for Integrative Physiology and Molecular Medicine, School of Medicine, Saarland University, 66421, Homburg, Germany
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Zöphel D, Angenendt A, Kaschek L, Ravichandran K, Hof C, Janku S, Hoth M, Lis A. Faster cytotoxicity with age: Increased perforin and granzyme levels in cytotoxic CD8 + T cells boost cancer cell elimination. Aging Cell 2022; 21:e13668. [PMID: 35818124 PMCID: PMC9381916 DOI: 10.1111/acel.13668] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/28/2021] [Revised: 05/19/2022] [Accepted: 06/24/2022] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
A variety of intrinsic and extrinsic factors contribute to the altered efficiency of CTLs in elderly organisms. In particular, the efficacy of antiviral CD8+ T cells responses in the elderly has come back into focus since the COVID‐19 pandemic outbreak. However, the exact molecular mechanisms leading to alterations in T cell function and the origin of the observed impairments have not been fully explored. Therefore, we investigated whether intrinsic changes affect the cytotoxic ability of CD8+ T cells in aging. We focused on the different subpopulations and time‐resolved quantification of cytotoxicity during tumor cell elimination. We report a surprising result: Killing kinetics of CD8+ T cells from elderly mice are much faster than those of CD8+ T cells from adult mice. This is true not only in the total CD8+ T cell population but also for their effector (TEM) and central memory (TCM) T cell subpopulations. TIRF experiments reveal that CD8+ T cells from elderly mice possess comparable numbers of fusion events per cell, but significantly increased numbers of cells with granule fusion. Analysis of the cytotoxic granule (CG) content shows significantly increased perforin and granzyme levels and turns CD8+ T cells of elderly mice into very efficient killers. This highlights the importance of distinguishing between cell‐intrinsic alterations and microenvironmental changes in elderly individuals. Our results also stress the importance of analyzing the dynamics of CTL cytotoxicity against cancer cells because, with a simple endpoint lysis analysis, cytotoxic differences could have easily been overlooked.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dorina Zöphel
- Biophysics, Center for Integrative Physiology and Molecular Medicine, School of Medicine, Saarland University, Homburg, Germany
| | - Adrian Angenendt
- Biophysics, Center for Integrative Physiology and Molecular Medicine, School of Medicine, Saarland University, Homburg, Germany
| | - Lea Kaschek
- Biophysics, Center for Integrative Physiology and Molecular Medicine, School of Medicine, Saarland University, Homburg, Germany
| | - Keerthana Ravichandran
- Cellular Neurophysiology, Center for Integrative Physiology and Molecular Medicine, School of Medicine, Saarland University, Homburg, Germany
| | - Chantal Hof
- Biophysics, Center for Integrative Physiology and Molecular Medicine, School of Medicine, Saarland University, Homburg, Germany
| | - Sandra Janku
- Biophysics, Center for Integrative Physiology and Molecular Medicine, School of Medicine, Saarland University, Homburg, Germany
| | - Markus Hoth
- Biophysics, Center for Integrative Physiology and Molecular Medicine, School of Medicine, Saarland University, Homburg, Germany
| | - Annette Lis
- Biophysics, Center for Integrative Physiology and Molecular Medicine, School of Medicine, Saarland University, Homburg, Germany
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Zhu J, Yang W, Zhou X, Zöphel D, Soriano-Baguet L, Dolgener D, Carlein C, Hof C, Zhao R, Ye S, Schwarz EC, Brenner D, Prates Roma L, Qu B. High Glucose Enhances Cytotoxic T Lymphocyte-Mediated Cytotoxicity. Front Immunol 2021; 12:689337. [PMID: 34248978 PMCID: PMC8267470 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2021.689337] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/31/2021] [Accepted: 06/10/2021] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) are key players to eliminate tumorigenic or pathogen-infected cells using lytic granules (LG) and Fas ligand (FasL) pathways. Depletion of glucose leads to severely impaired cytotoxic function of CTLs. However, the impact of excessive glucose on CTL functions still remains largely unknown. Here we used primary human CD8+ T cells, which were stimulated by CD3/CD28 beads and cultured in medium either containing high glucose (HG, 25 mM) or normal glucose (NG, 5.6 mM). We found that in HG-CTLs, glucose uptake and glycolysis were enhanced, whereas proliferation remained unaltered. Furthermore, CTLs cultured in HG exhibited an enhanced CTL killing efficiency compared to their counterparts in NG. Unexpectedly, expression of cytotoxic proteins (perforin, granzyme A, granzyme B and FasL), LG release, cytokine/cytotoxic protein release and CTL migration remained unchanged in HG-cultured CTLs. Interestingly, additional extracellular Ca2+ diminished HG-enhanced CTL killing function. Our findings suggest that in an environment with excessive glucose, CTLs could eliminate target cells more efficiently, at least for a certain period of time, in a Ca2+-dependent manner.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jie Zhu
- Department of Endocrinology, The First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China
- Biophysics, Center for Integrative Physiology and Molecular Medicine (CIPMM), School of Medicine, Saarland University, Homburg, Germany
| | - Wenjuan Yang
- Biophysics, Center for Integrative Physiology and Molecular Medicine (CIPMM), School of Medicine, Saarland University, Homburg, Germany
| | - Xiangda Zhou
- Biophysics, Center for Integrative Physiology and Molecular Medicine (CIPMM), School of Medicine, Saarland University, Homburg, Germany
| | - Dorina Zöphel
- Biophysics, Center for Integrative Physiology and Molecular Medicine (CIPMM), School of Medicine, Saarland University, Homburg, Germany
| | - Leticia Soriano-Baguet
- Experimental and Molecular Immunology, Department of Infection and Immunity, Luxembourg Institute of Health, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg
- Immunology and Genetics, Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine (LCSB), University of Luxembourg, Belvaux, Luxembourg
- Faculty of Science, Technology and Medicine, University of Luxembourg, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg
| | - Denise Dolgener
- Biophysics, Center for Integrative Physiology and Molecular Medicine (CIPMM), School of Medicine, Saarland University, Homburg, Germany
| | - Christopher Carlein
- Biophysics, Center for Integrative Physiology and Molecular Medicine (CIPMM), School of Medicine, Saarland University, Homburg, Germany
| | - Chantal Hof
- Biophysics, Center for Integrative Physiology and Molecular Medicine (CIPMM), School of Medicine, Saarland University, Homburg, Germany
| | - Renping Zhao
- Biophysics, Center for Integrative Physiology and Molecular Medicine (CIPMM), School of Medicine, Saarland University, Homburg, Germany
| | - Shandong Ye
- Department of Endocrinology, The First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China
| | - Eva C. Schwarz
- Biophysics, Center for Integrative Physiology and Molecular Medicine (CIPMM), School of Medicine, Saarland University, Homburg, Germany
| | - Dirk Brenner
- Experimental and Molecular Immunology, Department of Infection and Immunity, Luxembourg Institute of Health, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg
- Immunology and Genetics, Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine (LCSB), University of Luxembourg, Belvaux, Luxembourg
- Odense Research Center for Anaphylaxis, Department of Dermatology and Allergy Center, Odense University Hospital University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark
| | - Leticia Prates Roma
- Biophysics, Center for Integrative Physiology and Molecular Medicine (CIPMM), School of Medicine, Saarland University, Homburg, Germany
| | - Bin Qu
- Biophysics, Center for Integrative Physiology and Molecular Medicine (CIPMM), School of Medicine, Saarland University, Homburg, Germany
- INM – Leibniz Institute for New Materials, Saarbrücken, Germany
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