The proposal is: Determining cytotoxic T cell phenotype and function in the aging brain
Here’s a brief description of the project:
We know that a person’s age is the strongest clinical risk factor for most chronic diseases like cardiovascular disease and neurodegenerative disease (like Alzheimer’s disease). Obviously, we can’t change a person’s age, but we may be able to modify the biological changes that occur as we age. We know that T lymphocytes, the white blood cells of the adaptive immune system, change significantly as we age. We also know that T lymphocytes migrate into the brain during aging where we believe they contribute to damaging brain tissues and structures. We have found a population of T lymphocytes in the brain that we don’t know much about, so the question we’re trying to answer with this pilot award is simple. Very simply, we want to know why these cells move into the brain and what they are doing once they get there. If they are promoting disease, then we can try to target or remove them as a therapeutic approach.
