Abstract
The thymus involutes with age and its functionality has traditionally been assumed to be limited early in life. However, some studies have demonstrated that thymic function persists in adults. In humans, since it is difficult to obtain thymic samples from healthy individuals, indirect parameters have been used to study the thymic function. The aim of this study was to compare thymic function parameters within both the thymus and peripheral blood mononuclear cells from thirty-three patients who underwent cardiac surgery, as well as to relate these parameters with aging. The proportion of peripheral naïve T cells and intrathymic T cell differentiation stages, as well as peripheral and intrathymic TREC levels were analysed. We demonstrated that thymopoyesis persists in the healthy elderly since all T cell differentiation stages were found within the thymus. Among the studied parameters, peripheral TREC levels are found to be a good thymic function marker since they correlated with age. In healthy individuals, peripheral TREC levels are a good reflect of thymic function as demonstrated by their correlation with intrathymic TREC values.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Steinmann GG: Changes in the human thymus during aging. Curr Top Pathol 75:43–88, 1996
Bertho JM, Demarquay C, Moulian N, Van Der Meeren A, Berrih-Aknin S, Gourmelon P: Phenotypic and immunohistological analyses of the human adult thymus: Evidence for an active thymus during adult life. Cell Immunol 179:30–40, 1997
Jameison BD, Douek DC, Killian S, Hultin LE., Scripture-Adams DD, Giorgi JV, Marelli D, Koup RA, Zack JA: Generation of functional thymocytes in the human adult. Immunity 10:569–575, 1999
Steinman GG, Klaus B, Muller-Hermelink HK: The involution of the ageing human thymic epithelium is independent of puberty. Scand J Immunol 22:565–575, 1985
Franco JM, Rubio A, Martínez Moya, Leal M, Merchante E, Sánchez Quijano A, Lissen E: T cell repopulation and thymic volume in HIV-1 infected adult patients after highly active antiretroviral therapy. Blood 99:3702–3706, 2002
Ruiz-Mateos E, de la Rosa R, Soriano N, Martínez-Moya M, Rubio A, Sánchez-Quijano A, Lissen E, Leal M: Comparison of thymic function-related markers to predict early CD4 T-cell repopulation in adult HIV-infected patients on HAART. Antivir Ther 8:289–294, 2003
Vigano A, Vella S, Saresella M, Vanzulli A, Bricalli D, Di Fabio S, Ferrante P, Andreotti M, Pirillo M, Dally LG, Clerici M, Principi N: Early immune reconstitution after potent antiretroviral therapy in HIV-infected children. AIDS 14:251–261, 2000
Douek DC, MacFarland P, Keiser E, Gage EA, Massey JM, Haynes BF, Polis MA, Hasse AT, Feinberg MB, Sullivan JL, Jameson BD, Zack JA, Picker LJ, Koup RA: Changes in thymic function with age and during treatment of HIV infection. Nature 396:690–695, 1998
Zhang L, Lewin SR, Markowitz M, Lin HH, Skulsky E, Karanicolas R, He Y, Jin X, Tuttleton S, Vesanen M, Spiegel H, Kost R, van Lunzen J, Stellbrink HJ, Wolinsky S, Borkowsky W, Palumbo P, Kostrikis LG, Ho DD: Measuring recent thymic emigrants in blood of normal and HIV-1-infected individuals before and after effective therapy. J Exp Med 190: 725–732, 1999
Ye P, Kirscher DE: Revaluation of T cell receptor excision circles as a meassure of human recent thymic emigrants. J Immunol 168:4968–4979, 2002
Hazenberg MD, Otto SA, Cohen Stuart JW, Verschuren MC, Borleffs JC, Boucher CA, Coutinho RA, Lange JM, Rinke de Wit TF, Tsegaye A, van Dongen JJ, Hamann D, de Boer RJ, Miedema F: Increased cell division but not thymic dysfunction rapidly affects the T-cell receptor excision circle content of Th naïve T cell population in HIV-1 infection. Nat Med 6:1036–1042, 2000
Romanyukha AA, Yashin AI: Age related changes in population of peripheral T cells: Towards a model of immunosenescense. Mech Ageing Dev 124:433–443, 2003
McLean AR, Michie CA: In vivo estimates of division and death rates of human T lymphocytes. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 92:3707–3711, 1995
Picker LJ, Treer JR, Ferguson-Darnell B, Collins PA, Buck D, Terstappen LW: Control of lymphocyte recirculation in man: Differential regulation of the peripheral lymph node homing receptor L-selection on T-cells during the virgin to memory cell transition. J Immunol 150:1105–1121, 1993
Mackall CL, Fleisher TA, Brown MR, Andrich MP, Chen CC, Feuerstein IM, Horowitz ME, Magrath IT, Shad AT, Steinberg SM, Wexler LH, and Gress RE: Age, thymopoyesis, and D4+ T-lymphocyte regeneration after intensive chemotherapy. N Engl J Med 332:143–149, 1995
Cohen JJ, Duke RC, Fadok VA: Apoptosis and programmed cell death in immunity. Annu Rev Immunol 4:407–412, 1992
Kumamoto T, Inaba M, Toki J, Adachi Y, Imamura H, Ikehara S: Cytotoxic effects of irradiation and deoxyguanosine on fetal thymus. Immunobiology 192:365–391, 1995
Franco JM, León Leal JA, Leal M, Cano-Rodríguez A, Pineda JA, Macías J, Rubio A, Rey C, Sánchez B, Lissen E: CD4 and CD8 T lymphocytes regeneration after antiretroviral therapy in HIV-1 infected children and adult patients. Clin Exp Immunol 119:493–498, 2000
George AJT, Ritter MA: Thymic involution with ageing: Obsolescence or good housekeeping? Immunology 17:267–272, 1996
Boyd RL, Hugo P: Towards an integrated view of thymopoiesis. Immunol Today 12:71–79, 1991
Fleury S, Rizzardi GP, Chapuis A, Tambussi G, Knabenhans C, Simeoni E, Meuwly JY, Corpataux JM, Lazzarin A, Miedema F, Pantaleo G: Long-term kinetics of T cell production in HIV-infected subjects treated with highly active antiretroviral therapy. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 97:5393–5398, 2000
Costantini A, Mancini S, Giuliodoro S, Butini L, Regnery CM, Silvestri G, Montroni M: Effects of cryopreservation on lymphocyte immunophenotype and function. J Immunol Methods 278:145–155, 2003
Heitger A, Neu N, Hern H, Panzer-Grumayer ER, Creinix H, Nadivaur D, Niederwreser D, Fink FM: Essential role of the thymus to reconstitute naïve (CD45+) T helper cells after human allogenic bone marrow transplantation. Blood 90:850–857, 1997
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Arellano, M.V., Ordóñez, A., Ruiz-mateos, E. et al. Thymic Function-Related Markers Within the Thymus and Peripheral Blood: Are They Comparable?. J Clin Immunol 26, 96–100 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10875-006-7519-7
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10875-006-7519-7