Cited by 89T-cell and B-cell ImmunologyPsoriasis: Treatment and PathogenesisTelomeres, Telomerase, and Senescence

The Impact of Aging on Regulatory T-Cells

Open access
Fessler, Johannes, Ficjan, Anja, Duftner, Christina, Dejaco, Christian·2013·Frontiers in Immunology

Abstract

Age-related deviations of the immune system contribute to a higher likelihood of infections, cancer, and autoimmunity in the elderly. Senescence of T-lymphocytes is characterized by phenotypical and functional changes including the loss of characteristic T-cell surface markers, while an increase of stimulatory receptors, cytotoxicity as well as resistance against apoptosis is observed. One of the key mediators of immune regulation are naturally occurring regulatory T-cells (Tregs). Tregs express high levels of CD25 and the intracellular protein forkhead box P3; they exert their suppressive functions in contact-dependent as well as contact-independent manners. Quantitative and qualitative defects of Tregs were observed in patients with autoimmune diseases. Increased Treg activity was shown to suppress anti-tumor and anti-infection immunity. The effect of aging on Tregs, and the possible contribution of age-related changes of the Treg pool to the pathophysiology of diseases in the elderly are still poorly understood. Treg homeostasis depends on an intact thymic function and current data suggest that conversion of non-regulatory T-cells into Tregs as well as peripheral expansion of existing Tregs compensates for thymic involution after puberty to maintain constant Treg numbers. In the conventional T-cell subset, peripheral proliferation of T-cells is associated with replicative senescence leading to phenotypical and functional changes. For Tregs, different developmental stages were also described; however, replicative senescence of Tregs has not been observed yet.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.3389/fimmu.2013.00231

Cites

76 of 76 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • It has been suggested that the number of natural regulatory T cells (nTREGs) increase with ageing whereas inducible regulatory T cells (iTREGs) decrease.

    “In addition, attention has also turned to natural- and inducible- regulatory T cells (nTREG and iTREG respectively) and it has been suggested that the number of nTREGs increase with ageing whereas iTREGs decrease (Fessler et al. 2013; Jagger et al. 2014).”

    From Is immunosenescence influenced by our lifetime “dose” of exercise? (2016) · cites this paper as Fessler et al. 2013

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. [29]Hwang KA Kim HR Kang I Aging and human CD4(+) regulatory T cells. Mech Ageing Dev (2009) 130(8): 509– 17 10.1016/j.mad 19540259 PMC2753872 · DOI

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Fessler, J., Ficjan, A., Duftner, C., & Dejaco, C.
Affiliations
  • Medical University of Graz (AT)
  • Kashiwa Kousei General Hospital (JP)
Corresponding author
Dejaco, Christian
Venue
Frontiers in Immunology
Published
2013
Volume
4
Pages
231-231
ISSN
1664-3224 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W1966909420
Cited by
88
References
70
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 17 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 10 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 5 · 2013: 3
FWCI
4.06
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by
Locations
  • Frontiers in Immunology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
  • Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz
  • Medizinische Universität Graz
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Immunology › T-cell and B-cell Immunology
  • Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Immunology › Psoriasis: Treatment and Pathogenesis
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Telomeres, Telomerase, and Senescence
Keywords
regulatory T cells, immunosenescence, aging, T cell senescence, thymic involution, Foxp3, CD25, Treg homeostasis, autoimmune disease, tumor immunosuppression, infection susceptibility, Treg differentiation, replicative senescence

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review