@article { , title = {CMV-specific T-cell responses at older ages: broad responses with a large central memory component may be key to long-term survival}, abstract = {© The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved. Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection sometimes causes large expansions of CMV-specific T cells, particularly in older people. This is believed to undermine immunity to other pathogens and to accelerate immunosenescence. While multiple different CMV proteins are recognized, most publications on age-related T-cell expansions have focused on dominant target proteins UL83 or UL123, and the T-cell activation marker interferon-γ (IFN-γ). We were concerned that this narrow approach might have skewed our understanding of CMV-specific immunity at older ages. We have, therefore, widened the scope of analysis to include in vitro–induced T-cell responses to 19 frequently recognized CMV proteins in “young” and “older” healthy volunteers and a group of “oldest old” long-term survivors ( > 85 years of age). Polychromatic flow cytometry was used to analyze T-cell activation markers (CD107, CD154, interleukin-2 [IL-2], tumor necrosis factor [TNF] , and IFN-γ) and memory phenotypes (CD27, CD45RA). The older group had, on average, larger T-cell responses than the young, but, interestingly, response size differences were relatively smaller when all activation markers were considered rather than IFN-γ or TNF alone. The oldest old group recognized more proteins on average than the other groups, and had even bigger T-cell responses than the older group with a significantly larger central memory CD4 T-cell component.}, doi = {10.1093/infdis/jix080}, eissn = {1537-6613}, issn = {0022-1899}, issue = {8}, journal = {Journal of Infectious Diseases}, note = {I could not add this output before as I just moved from my previous institution to the University of Hull. I am doing this now, which is less than 3 months since I joined.}, pages = {1212-1220}, publicationstatus = {Published}, publisher = {Oxford University Press}, url = {https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/620089}, volume = {215}, keyword = {Health and Health Inequalities, Immunology and Allergy, Infectious Diseases}, year = {2017}, author = {Bajwa, Martha and Vita, Serena and Vescovini, Rosanna and Larsen, Martin and Sansoni, Paolo and Terrazzini, Nadia and Caserta, Stefano and Thomas, David and Davies, Kevin A. and Smith, Helen and Kern, Florian} }