The overall population size of broad immune cell categories, such as T cells, remains remarkably consistent across a lifespan, even given a reduced supply of replacement T cells as the thymus atrophies and hematopoietic stem cell populations become dysfunctional. In an environment of limited supply, numbers are kept up in the face of continued attrition by increased replication, which leads to increased cellular senescence in immune cell populations as ever more cells hit the Hayflick limit. Another aspect of immune aging is a progressively larger shift in the relative count of different types of immune cell, such as diminish…
A Large Study of Immune Aging in T Cell and Natural Killer Cell Populations
The overall population size of broad immune cell categories, such as T cells, remains remarkably consistent across a lifespan, even given a reduced supply of replacement T cells as the thymus atrophies and hematopoietic stem cell populations become dysfunctional. In an environment of limited supply, numbers are kept up in the face of continued attrition by increased replication, which leads to increased cellular senescence in immune cell populations as ever more cells hit the Hayflick limit. Another aspect of immune aging is a progressively larger shift in the relative count of different types of immune cell, such as diminish…