Increased vitamin D is associated with decline of naïve, but accumulation of effector, CD8 T cells during early aging

Yong Gil Hwang, Hui-Chen Hsu, Fei Chu Lim, Qi Wu, PingAr Yang, Gordon Fisher, Gary R. Hunter, John D. Mountz

Department of Human Studies, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA.
University of Alabama at Birmingham, Division of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology, Birmingham, AL, USA.

DOI: 10.4236/aar.2013.22010                

Abstract

Given the protective roles of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D or vitamin D) in musculoskeletal health and the potential beneficial effects of vitamin D supplementation in reducing the risk of various chronic diseases, intensive repletion of vitamin D has been widely advocated. Of note, CD8 T cells have the highest levels of the vitamin D receptor compared with other major immune cells. The effects of vitamin D on CD8 T cells during aging, however, remain unclear. This study determined the relationship between vitamin D levels and CD8 T cell status in 34 healthy female subjects (all >60 years old). The CD8 T-cell phenotype was defined by the surface expression of CD28 and CD95. The low-25(OH)D serum groups (≤30 ng/ml) had higher percentages of CD28⁺CD95^–CD8⁺ (na?ve) T cells and lower percentages of CD28⁺CD95⁺CD8⁺ (effector) T cells. By contrast, subjects with high levels of 25(OH)D had very low percentages of na?ve CD8 T cells but very high percentages of effector CD8 T cells. There was a significant inverse correlation between 25(OH)D levels and the frequency of na?ve CD8 T cells. The results show that higher levels of vitamin D are correlated with decreased frequencies of na?ve CD8 T cells during early aging, suggesting that higher levels of 25(OH)D accelerate CD8 T cell senescence. These results warrant further evaluation of the effects of vitamin D supplementation in immune aging.

Keywords

Naïve CD8; Immunosenescence; Vitamin D; Human

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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