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T-Cell Immunity Against Cytomegalovirus in Older Adults

Heterogeneity, Targeting Broad CMV Epitopes, and Longitudinal Studies

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Handbook of Immunosenescence

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Abstract

Human cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a large DNA virus known to persist in some immunocompetent individuals after primary infection, establishing a chronic infection. Chronic CMV infection is highly prevalent by positive anti-CMV IgG serology in the general older adult population and in several chronic conditions including HIV infection. As discussed elsewhere in this handbook, a large number of studies have shown expansion of T cells specific to CMV pp65 or immediate early 1 (IE1) epitopes in some seropositive older adults, suggesting chronic CMV infection as a major driving force in T-cell immunosenescence with significant adverse impact on the health of older adults. However, most of these studies are cross-sectional, and CMV-seropositive older adult population is likely heterogeneous. This chapter will address this heterogeneity and provide supportive evidence for PCR-based assays to detect CMV viral DNA in the peripheral blood monocytes as novel tools for diagnostic evaluation of chronic CMV infection in older adults. It will also describe CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell responses to broad CMV epitopes beyond pp65 or IE1 emphasizing the importance of such comprehensive evaluation. Finally, it will present emerging longitudinal data for chronic CMV infection and its impact on T-cell immunity, emphasizing the need for more in-depth longitudinal studies with larger sample size, frequent sampling, and longer follow-up.

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Acknowledgment

This work was supported in part by an NIH grant R01AI108907 and R21-AG-043874 and funding from the Milstein Medical Asian American Partnership (MMAAP) Foundation (www.mmaapf.org) [to Dr. Sean X. Leng], NIH grant UO1-AI-35042 [to Dr. Joseph B Margolick], and additional supplemental funding from the National Cancer Institute [to the MACS].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Center of Gerontology and Geriatrics, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Sichuan Province, China

    **ang Ding

  2. Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Joseph B. Margolick

  3. Division of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology and Center on Aging and Health, Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA

    **ang Ding & Sean X. Leng

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  1. **ang Ding
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  2. Joseph B. Margolick
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  3. Sean X. Leng
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Correspondence to Sean X. Leng .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Geriatrics Research Center on Aging, University of Sherbrooke Dept. of Medicine, Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada

    Tamas Fulop

  2. Dept of Experimental Pathology, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy

    Claudio Franceschi

  3. Institute for Health and Life Sciences, Tokyo, Japan

    Katsuiku Hirokawa

  4. Center for Medical Research, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany

    Graham Pawelec

Section Editor information

  1. Research Center on Aging, Department of Medicine, Immunology Graduate Programme, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada

    Tamas Fulop

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Ding, X., Margolick, J.B., Leng, S.X. (2018). T-Cell Immunity Against Cytomegalovirus in Older Adults. In: Fulop, T., Franceschi, C., Hirokawa, K., Pawelec, G. (eds) Handbook of Immunosenescence. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64597-1_123-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64597-1_123-1

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