Naïve T-cell decline is a significant contributor to expression changes in ageing blood Provisionally Accepted
Cameron Fraser
Brady M. Owen- 1Systematic Medicine, Australia
No clear consensus has emerged from the literature on the gene expression changes that occur in human whole blood with age. In this study we compared whole blood ageing genes from the published literature with data on gene specificity for leukocyte subtypes. Surprisingly we found that highly ranked ageing genes were predominantly expressed by naïve T cells, with limited expression from more common cell types. Highly ranked ageing genes were also more likely to have decreased expression with age. Taken together, it is plausible that much of the observed gene expression changes in whole blood is reflecting the decline in abundance of naïve T cells known to occur with age, rather than changes in transcription rates in common cell types. Correct attribution of the gene expression changes that occur with age is essential for understanding the underlying mechanisms.
Keywords: Ageing, Gene Expression, Transcriptomics, ageing clocks, Naïve T cell, leukocyte, whole blood, Confounding variables
Received: 23 Feb 2024;
Accepted: 13 May 2024.
Copyright: © 2024 Fraser and Owen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Dr. Cameron Fraser, Systematic Medicine, Melbourne, Australia