Cited by 389Telomeres, Telomerase, and SenescenceAutophagy in Disease and TherapyT-cell and B-cell Immunology

p38 signaling inhibits mTORC1-independent autophagy in senescent human CD8+ T cells

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Henson, Sian M., Lanna, Alessio, Riddell, Natalie E., Franzese, Ornella, Macaulay, Richard, Griffiths, Stephen J., Puleston, Daniel J., Watson, Alexander Scarth +3 more·2014·Journal of Clinical Investigation

Abstract

T cell senescence is thought to contribute to immune function decline, but the pathways that mediate senescence in these cells are not clear. Here, we evaluated T cell populations from healthy volunteers and determined that human CD8+ effector memory T cells that reexpress the naive T cell marker CD45RA have many characteristics of cellular senescence, including decreased proliferation, defective mitochondrial function, and elevated levels of both ROS and p38 MAPK. Despite their apparent senescent state, we determined that these cells secreted high levels of both TNF-α and IFN-γ and showed potent cytotoxic activity. We found that the senescent CD45RA-expressing population engaged anaerobic glycolysis to generate energy for effector functions. Furthermore, inhibition of p38 MAPK signaling in senescent CD8+ T cells increased their proliferation, telomerase activity, mitochondrial biogenesis, and fitness; however, the extra energy required for these processes did not arise from increased glucose uptake or oxidative phosphorylation. Instead, p38 MAPK blockade in these senescent cells induced an increase in autophagy through enhanced interactions between p38 interacting protein (p38IP) and autophagy protein 9 (ATG9) in an mTOR-independent manner. Together, our findings describe fundamental metabolic requirements of senescent primary human CD8+ T cells and demonstrate that p38 MAPK blockade reverses senescence via an mTOR-independent pathway.

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  • Increased glycolysis and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production are features of immunosenescence.

    “T cell–output decline is an important feature of immunosenescence as well as the production of senescence-associated secretory phenotype, increased glycolysis, and reactive oxygen species.”

    From Immunosenescence: a key player in cancer development (2020) · cites this paper as [36]

  • Aging T cells preferentially employ anaerobic glycolysis to generate energy, resulting in mitochondrial dysfunction and increased ROS generation.

    “Moreover, aging T cells preferentially employ anaerobic glycolysis to generate energy, which results in mitochondrial dysfunction and increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation [36].”

    From Immunosenescence: a key player in cancer development (2020) · cites this paper as [36]

  • Within primary human T cells, both CD4+ and CD8+ populations contain a subset of poorly proliferative cells with characteristics very similar to senescent fibroblasts.

    “Within primary human T cells, in both CD4 + [23, 28, 29] and CD8 + [25, 30] populations, there is a subset of poorly proliferative cells that exhibit characteristics that are very similar to senescent fibroblasts (Fig. 1).”
  • T cells within both CD4+ and CD8+ compartments that have senescent characteristics increase during ageing.

    “An important observation is that T cells within both CD4 + and CD8 + compartments that have senescent characteristics increase during ageing [25, 33-38] and are therefore likely to have an impact on altered immune function in older individuals.”
  • The increase in senescent T cells during ageing is likely to have an impact on altered immune function in older individuals.

    “An important observation is that T cells within both CD4 + and CD8 + compartments that have senescent characteristics increase during ageing [25, 33-38] and are therefore likely to have an impact on altered immune function in older individuals.”

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Authors
Henson, S. M., Lanna, A., Riddell, N. E., Franzese, O., Macaulay, R., Griffiths, S. J., Puleston, D. J., Watson, A. S., Simon, A. K., Tooze, S. A., & Akbar, A. N.
Affiliations
  • University College London (GB)
  • University of Rome Tor Vergata (IT)
  • University of Oxford (GB)
  • Cancer Research UK (GB)
Venue
Journal of Clinical Investigation
Published
2014-08-01
Volume
124
Issue
9
Pages
4004-4016
ISSN
0021-9738 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W1976615668
Cited by
389
References
60
Citations by year
2026: 29 · 2025: 49 · 2024: 42 · 2023: 33 · 2022: 37 · 2021: 39 · 2020: 28 · 2019: 31 · 2018: 27 · 2017: 27 · 2016: 32 · 2015: 13 · 2014: 2
FWCI
16.40
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Journal of Clinical Investigation (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Surrey Research Insight Open Access (The University of Surrey) (submittedVersion)
  • Cineca Institutional Research Information System (Tor Vergata University) (submittedVersion)
  • MDC Repository (Max-Delbrueck-Center for Molecular Medicine) (submittedVersion)
  • UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • Wellcome Trust
  • Cancer Research UK (15153)
  • National Institute for Health and Care Research
  • University College London
  • Directorate for Biological Sciences
  • Medical Research Council
  • Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BB/J006750/1, BB/G021422/1)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Telomeres, Telomerase, and Senescence
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Autophagy in Disease and Therapy
  • Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Immunology › T-cell and B-cell Immunology
Keywords
T cell senescence, CD8+ T cells, p38 MAPK signaling, mTOR-independent autophagy, Atg9, CD45RA, effector memory T cells, mitochondrial biogenesis, anaerobic glycolysis, telomerase activity, cytotoxicity, immunosenescence, T cell metabolism
MeSH terms
Autophagy-Related Proteins, Mechanistic Target of Rapamycin Complex 1, Adult, Autophagy, DNA Damage, Glycolysis, Humans, Membrane Proteins, Mitochondria, Oxidative Phosphorylation, Cellular Senescence, CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes, MAP Kinase Signaling System, Vesicular Transport Proteins, Multiprotein Complexes, p38 Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases, Membrane Potential, Mitochondrial, TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases

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