ISSN: 2155-9899
Alejandra Pera, F Hassouneh, C Campos, N Lopez-Sejas, C Alonso, R Tarazona and R Solana
University of Cordoba, Spain
University of Extremadura, Spain
Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Clin Cell Immunol
Changes in the T-cell pool caused by CMV infection have been proposed to contribute to immunosenescence. However, this detrimental role of CMV has been questioned and although it is clear that CMV contributes to immune cell senescence, it also has beneficial effects in young individuals improving the immune response to other pathogens. T-cells expressing NK cell receptors (NKT-like cells) such as CD56, expand with age and CMV infection and play an important role in the immune response against cancer, yet little information about their contribution to the response to infections is known. Here we propose an analysis of NKT-like cells responses to Staphylococcal Enterotoxin-B (SEB), in the context of CMV latent infection and aging. Our results show that NKT-like cell percentage increases with a combination of CMV latent infection and age. The response to SEB and the poly functional index of NKT-like cells also increase with age in CMV-seropositive individuals. Besides, in young individuals, CMV infection induces a shift on the poly functional profile of CD8+CD56�¢���� T-cells, but not on NKT-like's. We have as well confirmed that in both subsets, i.e., independently of CD56 expression, CD57+ cells are more poly functional than their CD57�¢���� counterparts and are expanded in CMV-seropositive individuals.