CD8+CD28- T lymphocytes as a marker of immunosenescence in patients with late-onset rheumatoid arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) with late and early onset demonstrates distinct differences. One of the possible causes of RA onset in older age is immunosenescence, characterized by the loss of CD28 expression on T lymphocytes and the accumulation of “senescent” subpopulations with proinflammatory activity.
Objective. To investigate the subpopulations of CD4+CD28+/- and CD8+CD28+/- T lymphocytes in patients with late-onset RA.
Material and methods. The study included 100 RA patients. Group 1 comprised 50 patients with RA onset after 60 years of age (median age at onset 67 [63.0; 72.0] years); group 2 included 50 younger patients with RA onset before 45 years (median age at onset 36 [27.0; 43.0] years). Disease duration was ≤3 years (median 1 [1.0; 2.0] years). Data from 32 healthy donors, matched for sex and age with the RA patients, were also analyzed. We used flow cytometryfor T-lymphocyte subpopulations phenotyping.
Results and discussion. Patients with late-onset RA demonstrated a significant increase in CD8+CD28- T cells compared with both young RA patients and healthy donors (median absolute counts 0.2 [0.1; 0.4], 0.14 [0.06; 0.2] and 0.1 [0.0; 0.1], respectively). Differences in CD4+CD28- cell counts were not statistically significant. No correlations were found between the number of CD28-negative cells and clinical or laboratory disease characteristics.
Conclusion. In late-onset RA, the level of CD8+CD28- T cells is markedly elevated at the early stages of the disease and may serve as a specific marker of immunosenescence.

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