Age-related declines and disease-associated variation in immune cell telomere length in a wild mammal
Beirne, Christopher; Delahay, R; Hares, M; et al.Young, AJ
Date: 30 September 2014
Journal
PLoS One
Publisher
Public Library of Science
Publisher DOI
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Abstract
Immunosenescence, the deterioration of immune system capability with age, may play a key role in mediating age-related
declines in whole-organism performance, but the mechanisms that underpin immunosenescence are poorly understood.
Biomedical research on humans and laboratory models has documented age and disease related declines in ...
Immunosenescence, the deterioration of immune system capability with age, may play a key role in mediating age-related
declines in whole-organism performance, but the mechanisms that underpin immunosenescence are poorly understood.
Biomedical research on humans and laboratory models has documented age and disease related declines in the telomere
lengths of leukocytes (‘immune cells’), stimulating interest their having a potentially general role in the emergence of
immunosenescent phenotypes. However, it is unknown whether such observations generalise to the immune cell
populations of wild vertebrates living under ecologically realistic conditions. Here we examine longitudinal changes in the
mean telomere lengths of immune cells in wild European badgers (Meles meles). Our findings provide the first evidence of
within-individual age-related declines in immune cell telomere lengths in a wild vertebrate. That the rate of age-related
decline in telomere length appears to be steeper within individuals than at the overall population level raises the possibility
that individuals with short immune cell telomeres and/or higher rates of immune cell telomere attrition may be selectively
lost from this population. We also report evidence suggestive of associations between immune cell telomere length and
bovine tuberculosis infection status, with individuals detected at the most advanced stage of infection tending to have
shorter immune cell telomeres than disease positive individuals. While male European badgers are larger and show higher
rates of annual mortality than females, we found no evidence of a sex difference in either mean telomere length or the
average rate of within-individual telomere attrition with age. Our findings lend support to the view that age-related declines
in the telomere lengths of immune cells may provide one potentially general mechanism underpinning age-related declines
in immunocompetence in natural populations.
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