Study finds cytotoxic CD4 T cells abundant in supercentenarians
International Business Times AU
Researchers analyzed blood from 28 Japanese participants and reported that rare cytotoxic CD4 T cells (CD4 CTLs) increase with extreme age, with medians of about 4% among people in their 70s–90s, 9.6% in centenarians, and 17.6% in supercentenarians. The CD4 CTLs in older participants lost surface proteins CD27 then CD28, showed clonal expansion (roughly 33% on average and about 50% in one centenarian), and exhibited no cellular exhaustion. Authors suggest this adaptive expansion may help control senescent or cancerous cells, while noting that larger, more diverse studies are needed to confirm the finding.
Supercentenarians had a median 17.6% of CD4 CTLs
Context
A study published in Cell Reports analyzed blood from 28 Japanese people across ages. It found rising CD4 CTL levels in centenarians and supercentenarians. Larger, more diverse studies could test whether this pattern applies in other…
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