Cytotoxic CD8+ Temra cells show loss of chromatin accessibility at genes associated with T cell activation. Cytotoxic CD8+ Temra cells show loss of chromatin accessibility at genes associated with T cell activation

As humans age their memory T cell compartment expands due to lifelong exposure to antigens. This expansion is characterized by the presence of terminally differentiated CD8+ T cells (Temra) which possess an NK cell-like phenotype and are associated with chronic inflammatory conditions. Temra cells are predominantly driven by sporadic cytomegalovirus reactivation (CMV) yet their cellular heterogeneity remains understudied. To address this gap we measured their gene expression profiles and conducted single-cell transcriptome analysis. We show that CD8+ Temra cells are highly heterogeneous and describe subsets specific to old age and CMV infection. Overall design: scRNA-Seq --------------------- Authors allude to patient privacy issues by stating the following: We've performed scRNA-seq sequencing of human-derived samples. The donors were profiled for CMV infection status as we studied CMV-specific CD8 Temra cells. We consider the possible genotype-phenotype link to be sensitive enough to warrant omission of raw FASTQ files.