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Research Paper|Volume 12, Issue 19|pp 18928—18941

CD8+ T cells are present at low levels in the white matter with physiological and pathological aging

Manuel Moreno-Valladares1,2, Tulio M. Silva2, Juan P. Garcés2, Ander Saenz-Antoñanzas1, Leire Moreno-Cugnon1, María Álvarez-Satta1, Ander Matheu1,3,4
  • 1Biodonostia Health Research Institute, Group of Cellular Oncology, San Sebastian, Spain
  • 2Donostia University Hospital, Pathology Department, San Sebastian, Spain
  • 3CIBER of Frailty and Healthy Aging (CIBERfes), Carlos III Institute, Madrid, Spain
  • 4IKERBASQUE, Basque Foundation for Science, Bilbao, Spain
Received: May 18, 2020Accepted: July 25, 2020Published: October 13, 2020
https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.104043

Copyright: © 2020 Moreno-Valladares et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Abstract

The presence and functional role of T cell infiltration in human brain parenchyma with normal aging and neurodegeneration is still under intense debate. Recently, CD8+ cells have been shown to infiltrate the subventricular zone in humans and mice with a deleterious effect on neural stem cells. However, to which extent T cell infiltration in humans also occurs in other regions such as cortical areas and, especially, white matter (WM) has not yet been addressed. In this work, we report a low-grade infiltration of T cells (CD3+, CD4+ and CD8+) in the WM of aged individuals that is also observed at similar levels in patients with neurodegenerative disorders (Alzheimer´s disease). In particular, CD3+ and CD8+ cells were increased in perivascular and parenchymal WM and cortical regions (enthorinal cortex). These results reveal that T cell infiltration in brain parenchyma occurs with physiological and pathological aging in several regions, but it seems to be lower than in the subventricular zone neurogenic niche.