Low expression of CD39 and CD73 genes in centenarians compared with octogenarians

Almudena Crooke,Joaquín Martínez-López,Juan Martínez-Henández,Fernando Huete-Toral,Alfonso Cruz-Jentoft,Jesús Pintor

doi:10.1186/s12979-017-0094-3

Abstract

Ageing involves a progressive decline of the body’s regulatory systems including immune system. Adenosine regulates immune function by interaction with its receptors, mainly adenosine A2A receptor, present on the surface of immune cells. Furthermore, cellular response to this nucleoside is highly dependent on its extracellular concentration that is regulated by ecto-enzymes such as CD39 and CD73. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of age on adenosine A2A receptor, CD39 and CD73 gene expression. Changes in mRNA were measured by quantitative PCR from peripheral blood of young, middle-aged and older adults as well as centenarians. Centenarians showed a prominent decrease of CD39 and CD73 mRNA in comparison with older adults. Regarding to adenosine A2A receptor, we detected two subgroups of centenarians with high and low level of transcript. Additionally, adenosine A2A receptor mRNA level of centenarians, did not correlate with their cognitive impairment. In summary, our pilot study suggests that unlike of adenosine A2A receptor, the level of CD39 as well as CD73 mRNA could be a hallmark of successful human ageing.

Highlights

Immunosenescence, the age-related decline in immune response, increases morbidity and mortality in the elderly population [1]
Since immune response is crucial to a healthy ageing, we have investigated the effect of age on CD39, CD73 and ADORA2A mRNA expression in blood cells of young, middle-aged and older adults as well as centenarians
We examined the mRNA level of CD39, CD73 and ADORA2A by Quantitative PCR (qPCR), using ACTB gene to normalize because its expression was unaffected by age (p = 0.7627) (Additional file 2: Figure S1)

Summary

Introduction

Immunosenescence, the age-related decline in immune response, increases morbidity and mortality in the elderly population [1]. The function of innate and adaptive immunity cells is not impaired in centenarians, example of extreme longevity and compression of morbidity [2, 3]. Adenosine regulates immune function by interaction with its receptors, mainly adenosine A2A receptor (ADORA2A), present on the surface of immune cells [4]. This nucleoside is generated from extracellular nucleotides by ecto-enzymes such as CD39 and CD73 that are expressed by immune cells [4]. These proteins, can regulate immune function [5]

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