A research study released yesterday (September 15) in Nature Cell Biology recommends that an interaction in between T cells and antigen presenting cells (APCs) early in the immune action to viruses may determine how quick T cells decline.Telomeres are long, duplicating sequences of DNA that bookend chromosomes and protect their ends from tearing. After the APC-derived blisters were provided to T cells, even in the lack of APCs, the T cells took up the APC telomeric DNA and added it onto the ends of their chromosomes.These blisters increased T cell expansion and reduced the number of T cells with senescence marker proteins, and protected populations of T cells with short telomeres from early aging, the team found. Utilizing Flow-FISH, an assay that counts cells and examines their telomere length one by one, the team discovered that ignorant T cells– cells that have actually never experienced an antigen– and memory T cells were more likely to take up telomeres.
The new study finds that after infection, APCs, the cells that at first kickstart T cells immune response by providing them with a foreign antigen, slice off and deliver their telomeres to T cells, the white blood cells that fight viruses. To separate immune cells, Lanna and his collaborators obtained T cells and APC cells from the blood of human research study individuals, then cultured these cells. They examined the length of the cells respective telomeres with a sequencing technique.See “Can Destroying Senescent Cells Treat Age-Related Disease”” We were looking at immune synapses in between T cells and antigen presenting cells when we made an unexpected observation,” states Lanna. After the APC-derived blisters were delivered to T cells, even in the lack of APCs, the T cells took up the APC telomeric DNA and added it onto the ends of their chromosomes.These blisters increased T cell expansion and decreased the number of T cells with senescence marker proteins, and secured populations of T cells with short telomeres from early aging, the group found. Using Flow-FISH, an assay that counts cells and evaluates their telomere length one by one, the group discovered that ignorant T cells– cells that have actually never come across an antigen– and memory T cells were more likely to take up telomeres.