Journal
VACCINE
Volume 29, Issue 11, Pages 2169-2177Publisher
ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2010.12.029
Keywords
Influenza vaccination; Human T-cell subsets; Cytolytic T-cell response; Influenza A/H3N2 and pandemic H1N1 strains
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Funding
- National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases [R01 AI68265]
- NIH, National Center for Research Resources, University of Connecticut Health Center (UCHC) [MO1 RR06192]
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Age-dependent changes in the cellular immune response have been mainly described in CD8+ T cells, with relative sparing of CD4+ T cells. We show that in older compared to young adults, effector memory and effector CD8+ T-cell subsets responding to influenza A/H3N2 challenge have diminished cytolytic activity. In contrast, effector CD4+ T-cell subsets in older adults share similar phenotypic and functional characteristics with those from young adults. Further, we observed a diminished cytolytic T-cell response to both seasonal influenza A/H3N2 and pandemic H1N1 (pH1N1) strains in older compared to young adults who had received seasonal influenza vaccine. These results are consistent with the observed rates of serious complications from seasonal and pandemic influenza infections in different age groups, and suggest that CD4+ T cells may provide a compensatory response to influenza infection when CD8+ T cells become compromised during the aging process. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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