ArticleImmunity & ageing : I & A2016
Efforts of the human immune system to maintain the peripheral CD8+ T cell compartment after childhood thymectomy.
Article in Immunity & ageing : I & A, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 28 citations in OpenAlex.
- Early Thymectomy Is Associated With Long-Term Impairment of the Immune System: A Systematic Review.Frontiers in immunology · 2021Pooled it
- Long-term immunological impairment after early thymectomy in congenital heart disease.Immunologic research · 2026Article
- Functional heterogeneity and plasticity in naïve CD8 T cells drive superior effector and memory responses.The Journal of experimental medicine · 2026Article
- Recent advances in methods for establishing animal models of premature ovarian failure.Journal of ovarian research · 2025Review
- Functional heterogeneity and plasticity in naïve CD8 T cells drive superior effector and memory responses.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Diverging effects of tumor necrosis factor inhibitors and conventional synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs on immunosenescence and inflammageing in rheumatoid arthritis: a cross-sectional analysis.Immunity & ageing : I & A · 2025Article
- Review
- Clinical characteristics of myasthenia gravis (MG) patients developing other autoimmune diseases after thymectomy from one single center cohort.Thoracic cancer · 2023Article
- T Cell Response to Influenza Vaccination Remains Intact in Adults with Congenital Heart Disease Who Underwent Early Thymectomy.International journal of cardiology. Congenital heart disease · 2022Article
- Guidelines for the use of flow cytometry and cell sorting in immunological studies (third edition).European journal of immunology · 2021Review
- Why COVID-19 is less frequent and severe in children: a narrative review.World journal of pediatrics : WJP · 2021Review
- The immune system in infants: Relevance to xenotransplantation.Pediatric transplantation · 2020Review
- Functional recreation of age-related CD8 T cells in young mice identifies drivers of aging- and human-specific tissue pathology.Mechanisms of ageing and development · 2020Article
- Why COVID-19 Transmission Is More Efficient and Aggressive Than Viral Transmission in Previous Coronavirus Epidemics?Biomolecules · 2020Review
- CD103 Deficiency Promotes Autism (ASD) and Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Behavioral Spectra and Reduces Age-Related Cognitive Decline.Frontiers in neurology · 2020Article
- Myasthenia gravis and infectious disease.Journal of neurology · 2018Review
- The significance of neonatal thymectomy for shaping the immune system in children with congenital heart defects.Kardiochirurgia i torakochirurgia polska = Polish journal of cardio-thoracic surgery · 2017Review
- Human neonatal thymectomy induces altered B-cell responses and autoreactivity.European journal of immunology · 2017Article
- Aging of the immune system: Focus on inflammation and vaccination.European journal of immunology · 2016Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundHomeostatic mechanisms to maintain the T cell compartment diversity indicate an ongoing process of thymic activity and peripheral T cell renewal during human life. These processes are expected to be accelerated after childhood thymectomy and by the influence of cytomegalovirus (CMV) inducing a prematurely aged immune system. The study aimed to investigate proportional changes and replicative history of CD8+ T cells, of recent thymic emigrants (RTEs) and CD103+ T cells (mostly gut-experienced) and the role of Interleukin-(IL)-7 and IL-7 receptor (CD127)-expressing T cells in thymectomized patients compared to young and old healthy controls.
resultsDecreased proportions of naive and CD31 + CD8+ T cells were demonstrated after thymectomy, with higher proliferative activity of CD127-expressing T cells and significantly shorter relative telomere lengths (RTLs) and lower T cell receptor excision circles (TRECs). Increased circulating CD103+ T cells and a skewed T cell receptor (TCR) repertoire were found after thymectomy similar to elderly persons. Naive T cells were influenced by age at thymectomy and further decreased by CMV.
conclusionsAfter childhood thymectomy, the immune system demonstrated constant efforts of the peripheral CD8+ T cell compartment to maintain homeostasis. Supposedly it tries to fill the void of RTEs by peripheral T cell proliferation, by at least partly IL-7-mediated mechanisms and by proportional increase of circulating CD103+ T cells, reminiscent of immune aging in elderly. Although other findings were less significant compared to healthy elderly, early thymectomy demonstrated immunological alterations of CD8+ T cells which mimic features of premature immunosenescence in humans.
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