Researchers have discovered that T cells can outlast the organism they originate from, with a unique epigenetic clock allowing them to continue proliferating through multiple lifetimes without aging. Additionally, in pediatric T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL), the T cells exhibit epigenetic ages up to 200 years, suggesting rapid proliferation can drastically age these cells, independent of the host’s chronological age. Researchers at St.
Jude Children’s Research Hospital and the University of Minnesota have discovered that the aging of T-cells is not constrained by the age of the organism, enabling these healthy cells to continue multiplying indefinitely. Most cell types undergo functional decline after extensive proliferation and replication over the years. However, T cells appear to proliferate indefinitely without any negative effects.
Researchers from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and the University of Minnesota have explored the distinctive ‘epigenetic clock’ that governs T-cell aging. Their findings show that T cells have the potential to survive beyond the lifespan of an organism, enduring through at least four lifetimes.
In addition, the researchers showed that healthy T cell age was uncoupled from the organism’s chronologic age. Furthermore, they determined that malignant T cells from pediatric patients with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) appeared to have aged up to 200 years. The findings were published in Nature Aging.
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