Effects of sex and aging on the immune cell landscape as assessed by single-cell transcriptomic analysis

Abstract

Sex and aging influence the human immune system, resulting in disparate responses to infection, autoimmunity, and cancer. However, the impact of sex and aging on the immune system is not yet fully elucidated. Using small conditional RNA sequencing, we found that females had a lower percentage of natural killer (NK) cells and a higher percentage of plasma cells in peripheral blood compared with males. Bioinformatics revealed that young females exhibited an overrepresentation of pathways that relate to T and B cell activation. Moreover, cell–cell communication analysis revealed evidence of increased activity of the BAFF/APRIL systems in females. Notably, aging increased the percentage of monocytes and reduced the percentage of naïve T cells in the blood and the number of differentially expressed genes between the sexes. Aged males expressed higher levels of inflammatory genes. Collectively, the results suggest that females have more plasma cells in the circulation and a stronger BAFF/APRIL system, which is consistent with a stronger adaptive immune response. In contrast, males have a higher percentage of NK cells in blood and a higher expression of certain proinflammatory genes. Overall, this work expands our knowledge of sex differences in the immune system in humans.

White Adipose Tissue Compositional and Transcriptional Patterns with Progressive Glucose Intolerance in Persons with HIV

“…Comparing non-diabetic, prediabetic and diabetic PWH, myeloid (median percent: 34.1%, 19.3%, 23.7%, respectively; p = 0.23) and lymphoid (median percent: 24.7%, 8.8%, 15.1%, respectively; p = 0.17) proportions were not significantly different ( Figure 1E ). Age and sex can influence adipocyte function and immune cell populations (Caso et al, 2013; Chang et al, 2018; Huang et al, 2021; Vasanthakumar et al, 2020), but we found no significant differences in cell proportions after stratifying by these factors. Taken together, these data represent the largest single-cell genomic, and first proteogenomic, comprehensive atlas of scWAT, as well as the first characterization of scWAT in persons with diabetes and HIV infection.…”

An aging‐related signature predicts favorable outcome and immunogenicity in lung adenocarcinoma

“…Recently, several studies have revealed that aging and its related molecular features are associated with cancer immune response and regulation 37,38 . Therefore, it was hypothesized that the identified risk signature may modulate immunocyte infiltration and signaling pathways related to immunogenicity.…”

“…Recently, several studies have revealed that aging and its related molecular features are associated with cancer immune response and regulation. 37,38 Therefore, it was hypothesized that the identified risk signature may modulate immunocyte infiltration and signaling pathways related to immunogenicity. A heatmap based on the ssGSEA method was constructed to visualize the distinct infiltrating abundance of 28 lymphocyte subtypes between the low-risk and high-risk subgroups in the discovery cohort (Figure 3A).…”

RNA-Seq of Single Fish Cells – Seeking Out the Leukocytes Mediating Immunity in Teleost Fishes

“…Presently, in humans, the transcriptomes of individual interdigitating cell populations are providing substantial datasets and being applied towards answering the latest emerging research questions. One scRNA-seq approach, for instance, impressively documented that sex and age widely affect the susceptibility of the human immune system ( 95 ). The distinctive power and versatile applicability of the scRNA-seq technology was particularly evident in light of the COVID-19 pandemic through the rapid establishment of atlases of the peripheral immune response against SARS-CoV-2 ( 96 , 97 ) and defining the mechanistic basis of the COVID-19 pathology ( 98 ).…”