SummaryInterventions that extend lifespan in mice can show substantial sexual dimorphism. Here, we show that male‐specific lifespan extension with two pharmacological treatments, acarbose (ACA) and 17‐α estradiol (17aE2), is associated, in males only, with increased insulin sensitivity and improved glucose tolerance. Females, which show either smaller (ACA) or no lifespan extension (17aE2), do not derive these metabolic benefits from drug treatment. We find that these male‐specific metabolic improvements are associated with enhanced hepatic mTORC2 signaling, increased Akt activity, and phosphorylation of FOXO1a – changes that might promote metabolic health and survival in males. By manipulating sex hormone levels through gonadectomy, we show that sex‐specific changes in these metabolic pathways are modulated, in opposite directions, by both male and female gonadal hormones: Castrated males show fewer metabolic responses to drug treatment than intact males, and only those that are also observed in intact females, while ovariectomized females show some responses similar to those seen in intact males. Our results demonstrate that sex‐specific metabolic benefits occur concordantly with sexual dimorphism in lifespan extension. These sex‐specific effects can be influenced by the presence of both male and female gonadal hormones, suggesting that gonadally derived hormones from both sexes may contribute to sexual dimorphism in responses to interventions that extend mouse lifespan.

TCR interaction with peptide-MHC complexes triggers migration of protein kinases, actin-binding proteins, and other accessory molecules to the T cell/APC synapse. We used confocal immunofluorescence methods to show that the adapter protein LAT (linker for activation of T cells) and the guanine nucleotide exchange factor Vav also move to the APC interface in mouse CD4 T cells conjugated to anti-CD3 hybridoma cells, and in TCR-transgenic CD4 cells conjugated to APC bearing agonist (but not closely related nonagonist) peptides. The proportion of CD4+ T cells able to relocalize LAT or Vav, or to relocate cytoplasmic NT-AT (NF-ATc) from cytoplasm to nucleus, declines about 2-fold in aged mice. The decline in LAT relocalization is accompanied by a similar decline in tyrosine phosphorylation of LAT in CD4 cells stimulated by CD3/CD4 cross-linking. Two-color experiments show that LAT redistribution is strongly associated with relocalization of both NF-ATc and protein kinase C-θ among individual cells. LAT migration to the immunological synapse depends on actin polymerization as well as on activity of Src family kinases, but aging leads to only a small change in the percentage of CD4 cells that redistribute F-actin to the site of APC contact. These results suggest that defects in the ability of T cells from aged donors to move kinase substrates and coupling factors, including LAT and Vav, into the T cell/APC contact region may contribute to the decline with age in NF-ATc-dependent gene expression, and thus to defects in T cell clonal expansion.

CD4 + T cells from old mice show defects in the activation process including deficiency in the formation of immunosynapses with antigen-presenting cells. We show that CD4 + T cells from old mice express unusually high levels of glycosylated forms of the bulky T cell glycoprotein CD43, particularly on a subset of functionally anergic cells expressing P-glycoprotein. T cells from old donors also show a decline in the association of CD43 with cytoskeletal matrix and in the proportion of T cells that can exclude CD43 from the synapse. O-sialoglycoprotein endopeptidase, which removes the external domain of CD43 and other O-sialoglycoproteins from the aged naive CD4 + T cells of TCR-transgenic mice, restores early agonistindependent stages and later agonist-dependent stages of synapse formation as well as expression of the activation markers CD69 and CD25 to the levels found in the young mice. These data support a model in which O-glycosylated forms of T cell surface molecules, including CD43, are largely responsible for age-related defects in TCR signaling and function.

Confocal fluorescent microscopy was used to study redistribution of membrane-associated proteins in naive T cells from young and old mice from a transgenic stock whose T cells express a TCR specific for a peptide derived from pigeon cytochrome C. About 50% of the T cells from young mice that formed conjugates with peptide-pulsed APC were found to form complexes, at the site of binding to the APC, containing CD3ε, linker for activation of T cells (LAT), and Zap-70 in a central area and c-Cbl, p95vav, Grb-2, PLCγ, Fyn, and Lck distributed more uniformly across the interface area. Two-color staining showed that those cells that were able to relocalize c-Cbl, LAT, CD3ε, or PLCγ typically relocalized all four of these components of the activation complex. About 75% of conjugates that rearranged LAT, c-Cbl, or PLCγ also exhibited cytoplasmic NF-AT migration to the T cell nucleus. Aging had two effects. First, it led to a diminution of ∼2-fold in the proportion of T cell/APC conjugates that could relocalize any of the nine tested proteins to the immune synapse. Second, aging diminished by ∼2-fold the frequency of cytoplasmic NF-AT migration among cells that could generate immune synapses containing LAT, c-Cbl, or PLCγ. Thus naive CD4 T cells from old mice exhibit at least two separable defects in the earliest stages of activation induced by peptide/MHC complexes.

Previous research has shown that many of the CD4 T cells from older mice do not form functional immune synapses after conjugation with peptide-pulsed APC. We now show that the defect lies at a very early stage in the cytoskeletal reorganization that precedes movement of protein kinases and their substrates to the TCR/APC interface. Antagonist peptides presented to T cells from young mice induce migration of talin (but not paxillin, vinculin, or F-actin) to the APC contact zone, but CD4 T cells from older donors typically fail to show the talin polarization response. A spreading assay in which contact with anti-CD3-coated slides induces CD4 T cells to assume a conical shape and develop lammelopodia also shows a decline with age in the proportion of T cells that can initiate cytoskeletal changes in response to this simplified stimulus. Finally, the transition from detergent-soluble to cytoskeletal forms of the p16, p21, and p23 isoforms of CD3ζ in response to CD3/CD4/CD28 cross-linking is much stronger in young than in old T cells. Thus, defects in cytoskeletal reorganization triggered by initial contact between TCR and peptide-bearing APC precede, and presumably contribute to, defective activation of protein kinase-mediated signals in the first few minutes of the activation cascade in T cells from aged mice.

The involvement of mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) in lifespan control in invertebrates, calorie-restricted rodents, and extension of mouse lifespan by rapamycin have prompted speculation that diminished mTOR function may contribute to mammalian longevity in several settings. We show here that mTOR complex-1 (mTORC1) activity is indeed lower in liver, muscle, heart, and kidney tissue of Snell dwarf and global GH receptor (GHR) gene-disrupted mice (GHR-/-), consistent with previous studies. Surprisingly, activity of mTORC2 is higher in fasted Snell and GHR-/- than in littermate controls in all 4 tissues tested. Resupply of food enhanced mTORC1 activity in both controls and long-lived mutant mice but diminished mTORC2 activity only in the long-lived mice. Mice in which GHR has been disrupted only in the liver do not show extended lifespan and also fail to show the decline in mTORC1 and increase in mTORC2 seen in mice with global loss of GHR. The data suggest that the antiaging effects in the Snell dwarf and GHR-/- mice are accompanied by both a decline in mTORC1 in multiple organs and an increase in fasting levels of mTORC2. Neither the lifespan nor mTOR effects appear to be mediated by direct GH effects on liver or by the decline in plasma IGF-I, a shared trait in both global and liver-specific GHR-/- mice. Our data suggest that a more complex pattern of hormonal effects and intertissue interactions may be responsible for regulating both lifespan and mTORC2 function in these mouse models of delayed aging.

We have recently shown that treatment of T cells from aged mice with an endopeptidase specific for O-linked glycoproteins can restore synapse formation and early activation markers to CD4 cells from aged mice. New data show that the sialidase from Clostridium perfringens, but not from Vibrio cholerae, can increase activation of CD4 cells from both old and young mice as measured by calcium signals, expression of CD25 and CD69, and secretion of IL-2. Lectin binding assays showed alterations with age in the levels, accessibility or conformation of multiple glycoproteins on the surface of CD4 cells. While some alterations were due to the accumulation of memory cells with age, others were age sensitive and found exclusively in the naive subset or both naive and memory subsets. Furthermore, analysis of the sialic acid links alpha(2,3)Gal/GalNAc and alpha(2,6)Gal/GalNAc in immunoprecipitated CD43 and CD45 molecules confirm that age alters the glycosylation of specific proteins that regulate TCR interaction with antigen presenting cells. These data support the idea that changes in T cell surface glycosylation could play an important role in immune senescence.

T cell–specific adapter protein (TSAd) is a SRC-homology-2 (SH2) domain–containing intracellular signaling molecule that is required for T cell antigen receptor (TCR)–induced cytokine synthesis in T cells. How TSAd functions in TCR signal transduction is not clear. Previous work has suggested a nuclear role for this adapter. However, other evidence suggests that TSAd also functions in the cytoplasm. Using T cells from TSAd-deficient mice, we now show that the major role of TSAd in the cytoplasm is in activation of the LCK protein tyrosine kinase at the outset of TCR signal transduction. Consequently, TSAd regulates several downstream signaling events, including intracellular calcium mobilization and activation of the Ras–extracellular signal–regulated kinase signaling pathway. TSAd regulates LCK activity directly through physical interaction with LCK SH3 and SH2 domains. These studies reveal TSAd as a positive regulator of proximal TCR signal transduction and provide important new information on the mechanism of TCR-induced LCK activation.