Age-Associated Differences in MiRNA Signatures Are Restricted to CD45RO Negative T Cells and Are Associated with Changes in the Cellular Composition, Activation and Cellular Ageing

作者：Teteloshvili Nato; Kluiver Joost; van der Geest Kornelis S M; van der Lei Roelof Jan; Jellema Pytrick; Pawelec Graham; Brouwer Elisabeth; Kroesen Bart Jan; Boots Annemieke M H; van den Berg Anke^*

来源：PLos One, 2015, 10(9): e0137556.

DOI：10.1371/journal.pone.0137556

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have emerged as important players in the regulation of T-cell functionality. However, comprehensive insight into the extent of age-related miRNA changes in T cells is lacking. We established miRNA expression patterns of CD45RO- naive and CD45RO+ memory T-cell subsets isolated from peripheral blood cells from young and elderly individuals. Unsupervised clustering of the miRNA expression data revealed an age-related clustering in the CD45RO- T cells, while CD45RO+ T cells clustered based on expression of CD4 and CD8. Seventeen miRNAs showed an at least 2-fold up-or downregulation in CD45RO- T cells obtained from young as compared to old donors. Validation on the same and independent samples revealed a statistically significant age-related upregulation of miR-21, miR-223 and miR-15a. In a T-cell subset analysis focusing on known age-related phenotypic changes, we showed significantly higher miR-21 and miR-223 levels in CD8+CD45RO-CCR7- T-EMRA compared to CD45RO-CCR7+ T-NAIVE-cells. Moreover, miR21 but not miR-223 levels were significantly increased in CD45RO-CD31-post-thymic T-NAIVE cells as compared to thymic CD45RO-CD31+ T-NAIVE cells. Upon activation of CD45RO-T-NAIVE cells we observed a significant induction of miR-21 especially in CD4+ T cells, while miR-223 levels significantly decreased only in CD4+ T cells. Besides composition and activation-induced changes, we showed a borderline significant increase in miR-21 levels upon an increasing number of population doublings in CD4+ T-cell clones. Together, our results show that ageing related changes in miRNA expression are dominant in the CD45RO- T-cell compartment. The differential expression patterns can be explained by age related changes in T-cell composition, i.e. accumulation of CD8+ T-EMRA and CD4+ post-thymic expanded CD31-T cells and by cellular ageing, as demonstrated in a longitudinal clonal culture model.

• 出版日期2015-9-11