医学创新论坛第75期

CIMR Wednesday Lecture Series

时间：2025年6月18日（周三）上午11:00

地点：首都医科大学基础科研楼北楼一层逸夫报告厅

主持人：

史凯斌

首都医学科学创新中心

报告人：

胡洪波

四川大学华西医院

研究员

报告题目：

Human T cell development and aging

摘要：

Age-related thymic involution is a hallmark of T-cell aging, heightening vulnerability to cancers and emerging pathogens in the elderly. However, the precise mechanisms driving thymic involution and its impact on impaired peripheral T-cells remain unclear. By single cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) and T-cell receptor-sequencing (scTCR-seq), we captured and analyzed 283,331 cells from thymus and peripheral blood of young and elderly individuals. Our findings revealed an elevated proportion of early thymic progenitor (ETP) cells in the aged thymus, accompanied by reduced T-lineage potential. Meanwhile, inflammatory profiles of intrathymic CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T-cells increased with age. Thymic microenvironment supporting T-cell development deteriorated with age, as evidenced by reduced thymic epithelial cells (TECs) and tissue restricted antigens (TRAs) expression. In the periphery, we identified transcriptional features of T-cell aging crossing T-cell populations. Furthermore, CD38 emerged as new marker for CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ recent thymic emigrants (RTEs). TCR-seq analysis indicated dramatic changes in TCR repertoire diversity within memory and effector T-cells and an expansion of virus specific T-cells in the elderly. Collectively, our data offer insights into human thymus involution and peripherical T-cell aging leading to potential strategies to restore compromised T-cell immunity.

代表性论文：