CD95 Expression in Aged Mice Infected with Tuberculosis

The interaction between CD95 and its ligand is an important homeostatic mechanism that leads to the induction of apoptosis in activated T cells. In view of recent evidence that this pathway might be defective in aged mice, this study investigated CD95 expression on T cells in old mice activated by infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The results of the study do not support the hypothesis that CD95 is poorly expressed on CD4 T cells from old mice; instead, it was found that similar numbers of T cells from young and old mice expressed CD95, with the intensity of expression if anything higher on the cells from the old mice. In addition, the study demonstrated that changes in CD44 and CD45RB expression previously observed in young infected mice proceeded in a similar fashion in old animals and, as would be predicted, that CD95(hi) expression was primarily associated with CD4 T cells expressing the activated CD44(hi) CD45RB(hi) phenotype.