Cryoelectron tomography reveals an age-related decline in mitoribosomes that contributes to T cell dysfunction in older individuals.

Jingwen Chen, Lili Su, Bangze Pan, Junhao Sang, Linlin Li, Junsong Huang, Zhao-Lan Hu, Lixin Wang, Xiaojie Zhang, Jun Jin

Multiscale Research Institute for Complex Systems, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.Multiscale Research Institute for Complex Systems, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China. · pubmed

Paper

Abstract

Mitochondrial dysfunction drives T cell aging in mice. Yet, due to fundamental differences in T cell aging mechanisms between species, whether human T cells exhibit similar mitochondrial alterations remains unclear, with existing evidence often conflicting. Using cryoelectron tomography, we resolved the structure and spatial organization of mitochondrial ribosomes in primary human CD8

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Research summary

The study identifies an age-related structural decline in mitoribosomes in human CD8+ T cells using cryo-ET, linking mitochondrial ribosome integrity to T cell dysfunction. This provides mechanistic insight into immunosenescence by highlighting a specific cellular aging hallmark, though it is primarily descriptive and incremental rather than offering a transformative therapeutic breakthrough.

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