We have previously shown that regulatory T cells (Treg) accumulate dramatically in aged animals and negatively impact the ability to control persistent infection. However, the mechanism(s) underlying the age-dependent accrual of Treg remain unclear. Here, we show that Treg accumulation with age is progressive and likely not the result of increased thymic output, increased peripheral proliferation, nor from enhanced peripheral conversion. Instead, we found that Treg from aged mice are more resistant to apoptosis than Treg from young mice. Although Treg from aged mice had increased expression of functional IL-7Rα, we found that IL-7R-signaling was not required for maintenance of Treg in vivo. Notably, aged Treg exhibit decreased expression of the pro-apoptotic molecule Bim compared to Treg from young mice. Further, in the absence of Bim, Treg accumulate rapidly, accounting for more than 25% of the CD4+ T cell compartment by 6 months of age. In addition, accumulation of Treg in Bim-deficient mice occurred after the cells left the transitional recent thymic emigrant compartment. Mechanistically, we show that IL-2 drives preferential proliferation and accumulation of Bimlo Treg. Combined, our data suggest that chronic stimulation by IL-2 leads to preferential expansion of Treg having low expression of Bim, which favors their survival and accumulation in aged hosts.
As acute infections resolve, most effector CD8+ T cells die, whereas some persist and become memory T cells. Recent work showed that subsets of effector CD8+ T cells, identified by reciprocal expression of killer cell lectin-like receptor G1 (KLRG1) and CD127, have different lifespans. Similar to previous reports, we found that effector CD8+ T cells reported to have a longer lifespan (i.e., KLRG1lowCD127high) have increased levels of Bcl-2 compared with their shorter-lived KLRG1highCD127low counterparts. Surprisingly, we found that these effector KLRG1lowCD127high CD8+ T cells also had increased levels of Bim compared with KLRG1highCD127low cells. Similar effects were observed in memory cells, in which CD8+ central memory T cells expressed higher levels of Bim and Bcl-2 than did CD8+ effector memory T cells. Using both pharmacologic and genetic approaches, we found that survival of both subsets of effector and memory CD8+ T cells required Bcl-2 to combat the proapoptotic activity of Bim. Interestingly, inhibition or absence of Bcl-2 led to significantly decreased expression of Bim in surviving effector and memory T cells. In addition, manipulation of Bcl-2 levels by IL-7 or IL-15 also affected expression of Bim in effector CD8+ T cells. Finally, we found that Bim levels were significantly increased in effector CD8+ T cells lacking Bax and Bak. Together, these data indicate that cells having the highest levels of Bim are selected against during contraction of the response and that Bcl-2 determines the level of Bim that effector and memory T cells can tolerate.
During an immune response, most effector T cells die, whereas some are maintained and become memory T cells. Factors controlling the survival of effector CD4+ and CD8+ T cells remain unclear. In this study, we assessed the role of IL-7, IL-15, and their common signal transducer, STAT5, in maintaining effector CD4+ and CD8+ T cell responses. Following viral infection, IL-15 was required to maintain a subpopulation of effector CD8+ T cells expressing high levels of killer cell lectin-like receptor subfamily G, member 1 (KLRG1), and lower levels of CD127, whereas IL-7 and IL-15 acted together to maintain KLRG1lowCD127high CD8+ effector T cells. In contrast, effector CD4+ T cell numbers were not affected by the individual or combined loss of IL-15 and IL-7. Both IL-7 and IL-15 drove phosphorylation of STAT5 within effector CD4+ and CD8+ T cells. When STAT5 was deleted during the course of infection, both KLRG1highCD127low and KLRG1lowCD127high CD8+ T cells were lost, although effector CD4+ T cell populations were maintained. Furthermore, STAT5 was required to maintain expression of Bcl-2 in effector CD8+, but not CD4+, T cells. Finally, IL-7 and IL-15 required STAT5 to induce Bcl-2 expression and to maintain effector CD8+ T cells. Together, these data demonstrate that IL-7 and IL-15 signaling converge on STAT5 to maintain effector CD8+ T cell responses.
We and others have shown that regulatory T cells (Treg) accumulate dramatically with age in both humans and mice. Such Treg accrual contributes to age-related immunosenescence as they reduce the response to tumors and parasite infection. While we reported earlier that aged Treg have decreased expression of the pro-apoptotic molecule Bim and germline deletion of Bim promoted earlier accumulation of Treg, it remains unclear whether the effects of Bim are: (i) Treg intrinsic and (ii) dominant to other BH3-only pro-apoptotic molecules. Further, the mechanism(s) controlling Bim expression in aged Treg remain unclear. Here we show that Treg-specific loss of Bim is sufficient to drive Treg accrual with age and that additional loss of the downstream apoptotic effectors Bax and Bak did not exacerbate Treg accumulation. Further, our results demonstrate that a subpopulation of Treg expands with age and is characterized by lower expression of CD25 (IL-2Rα) and Bim. Mechanistically, we found that IL-2 levels decline with age and likely explain the emergence of CD25loBimlo Treg because Treg in IL-2−/− mice are almost entirely comprised of CD25loBimlo cells, and IL-2 neutralization increases CD25loBimlo Treg in both young and middle-aged mice. Interestingly, the Treg population in aged mice had increased expression of CD122 (IL-2/IL-15Rβ) and neutralization or genetic loss of IL-15 led to less Treg accrual with age. Further, the decreased Treg accrual in middle-aged IL-15−/− mice was restored by the additional loss of Bim (IL-15−/−Bim−/−). Together, our data show that aging favors the accrual of CD25lo Treg whose homeostasis is supported by IL-15 as IL-2 levels become limiting. These data have implications for manipulating Treg to improve immune responses in the elderly.
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