People with special longevity who have reached the age of 110 are called super sentinarians.It has a long period of independent life and is regarded as an ideal model for healthy longevity.In general, when the immune system weakens with aging, the risk of cancer and infectious diseases increases dramatically, but super sentinarians avoid these deadly diseases and the immune system is said to be good even in old age.Even in Japan, a country of longevity with a large number of people aged 100 and over, the number of people over the age of 110 is limited, and supercentenarian immune cells have been rarely studied.

　This time, the collaborative research group collected blood directly from 110 super sentinarians who reached the age of 7 and 50 who were 80 to 5 years old, and analyzed the immune cells flowing in the blood at the single cell level. ..As a result, it was found that the composition of T cells (a type of lymphocyte), which plays the role of the control tower of the immune system, has changed significantly in Super Sentinalians compared to those aged 1 to 50 years.Among them, CD80 positive killer T cells (T cells that specifically kill infected cells and cancer cells), which are usually present in a small amount, were present in a high proportion.Furthermore, examination of these T cell receptors revealed that clonal proliferation occurred in which T cells with specific types of receptors increased.

　By understanding the relationship between immunity and aging / longevity through the results of this research, it can be expected to prevent immune aging and contribute to the extension of healthy life expectancy.

Paper information:[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences] Single-cell transcriptomics reveals expansion of cytotoxic CD4 T-cells in supercentenarians