Cited by 513Single-cell and spatial transcriptomicsGenetics, Aging, and Longevity in Model OrganismsT-cell and B-cell Immunology

A clinically meaningful metric of immune age derived from high-dimensional longitudinal monitoring

Open access
Alpert, Ayelet, Pickman, Yishai, Leipold, Michael, Rosenberg-Hasson, Yael, Ji, Xuhuai, Gaujoux, Renaud, Rabani, Hadas, Starosvetsky, Elina +10 more·2019·Nature Medicine

Abstract

Immune responses generally decline with age. However, the dynamics of this process at the individual level have not been characterized, hindering quantification of an individual's immune age. Here, we use multiple 'omics' technologies to capture population- and individual-level changes in the human immune system of 135 healthy adult individuals of different ages sampled longitudinally over a nine-year period. We observed high inter-individual variability in the rates of change of cellular frequencies that was dictated by their baseline values, allowing identification of steady-state levels toward which a cell subset converged and the ordered convergence of multiple cell subsets toward an older adult homeostasis. These data form a high-dimensional trajectory of immune aging (IMM-AGE) that describes a person's immune status better than chronological age. We show that the IMM-AGE score predicted all-cause mortality beyond well-established risk factors in the Framingham Heart Study, establishing its potential use in clinics for identification of patients at risk.

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Crossref · 10.1038/s41591-019-0381-y

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  • An IMM-AGE score constructed from proteins, transcripts, and immune cell counting in adults explained a significant portion of interindividual cytokine response variability.

    “A recent study of adults used proteins, transcripts, and immune cell counting to construct an immune age (IMM-AGE) score that explained a significant portion of the interindividual cytokine response variability (114).”

    From Connecting aging biology and inflammation in the omics era (2022) · cites this paper as [114]

  • The IMM-AGE score was a stronger predictor of mortality than a DNA methylation clock in the same cohort.

    “The IMM-AGE score was a stronger predictor of mortality than a DNA methylation clock in the same cohort.”

    From Connecting aging biology and inflammation in the omics era (2022) · cites this paper as [114]

  • A multi-omics IMM-AGE metric in 135 adults described immune functioning better than chronological age and accurately predicted all-cause mortality.

    “This enabled the researchers to construct a high-dimensional trajectory of immune aging (IMM-AGE) that described individuals’ immune functioning better than their chronological age. This new metric in turn accurately predicted all-cause mortality”
  • Differences among older adults in the extent of systemic chronic inflammation are thought to reflect inter-individual differences in exposure to pro-inflammatory factors, although within-person studies are limited.

    “The fact that differences exist in the extent to which older adults exhibit SCI52,64 is thought to be indicative of inter-individual differences in exposure to these and other related pro-inflammatory factors, although studies documenting within-person associations between these risk factors and SCI are limited.”
  • The authors' earlier cellular composite metric for immune aging, IMM-AGE, was strongly associated with all-cause mortality.

    “Recent work from our group identified a cellular composite metric for immune aging (IMM-AGE), which was strongly associated with all-cause mortality16.”

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Research works printed but not linked: 3

  1. [26]Strogatz SH Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos: With Applications to Physics, Biology, Chemistry, and Engineering (Studies in Nonlinearity) 1st edn (Addison-Wesley, Reading, Mass., 1994).
  2. [31]Shen-Orr SS Defective signaling in the JAK-STAT pathway tracks with chronic inflammation and cardiovascular risk in aging humans. Cell Syst. 3, 374– 384. e4 (2016). 27746093 PMC5358544
  3. [37]Pawelec G Immune parameters associated with mortality in the elderly are context-dependent: lessons from Sweden, Holland and Belgium. Biogerontology 19, 537– 545 (2018). 29185165

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Authors
Alpert, A., Pickman, Y., Leipold, M., Rosenberg-Hasson, Y., Ji, X., Gaujoux, R., Rabani, H., Starosvetsky, E., Kveler, K., Schaffert, S., Furman, D., Caspi, O., Rosenschein, U., Khatri, P., Dekker, C. L., Maecker, H. T., Davis, M. M., & Shen-Orr, S. S.
Affiliations
  • Technion – Israel Institute of Technology (IL)
  • Stanford University (US)
  • Stanford Medicine (US)
  • Howard Hughes Medical Institute (US)
Corresponding author
  • Davis, Mark M.
  • Shen-Orr, Shai S.
Venue
Nature Medicine
Published
2019-03
Volume
25
Issue
3
Pages
487-495
ISSN
  • 1078-8956 (ISSN-L)
  • 1546-170X
OpenAlex
W2919822707
Cited by
513
References
40
Citations by year
2026: 62 · 2025: 81 · 2024: 72 · 2023: 55 · 2022: 55 · 2021: 80 · 2020: 79 · 2019: 27 · 2017: 1 · 2013: 1
FWCI
20.59
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Nature Medicine (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
  • National Cancer Institute (P30CA124435)
  • National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (U19AI090019, U19AI057229)
  • National Center for Research Resources (UL1RR025744)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Single-cell and spatial transcriptomics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Aging › Genetics, Aging, and Longevity in Model Organisms
  • Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Immunology › T-cell and B-cell Immunology
Keywords
immunosenescence, interindividual variability, immune homeostasis, longitudinal immune monitoring, all-cause mortality prediction, aging biomarkers
MeSH terms
Immunosenescence, Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Aging, Female, Humans, Individuality, Longitudinal Studies, Lymphocytes, Male, Middle Aged, Mortality, Phenotype, Multivariate Analysis, Proportional Hazards Models, Cytokines, Young Adult, Healthy Volunteers

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