A newly discovered type of immune cell found in fat tissue seems to contribute to the chronic inflammation associated with ageing, according to preliminary data from mice — but other immune cells in fat help to keep inflammation at bay1.
The inflammation-promoting cells emerge only in older mice, researchers found. Although the cells’ precise role is unclear, they display several signatures associated with ‘inflammageing’ — the persistent inflammation that develops as people grow older. The findings were published on 2 September in Nature Aging.
“We did not anticipate that there would be a completely new cell type,” says study co-author Vishwa Deep Dixit, an immunobiologist at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.
Full article here: Newfound immune cell in mice hints at why inflammation spikes with old age (Nature)