{"doi":"10.3389/fimmu.2024.1356635","title":"Immune cell phenotype and function patterns across the life course in individuals from rural Uganda","abstract":"Background To determine the pattern of immune cell subsets across the life span in rural sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), and to set a reference standard for cell subsets amongst Africans, we characterised the major immune cell subsets in peripheral blood including T cells, B cells, monocytes, NK cells, neutrophils and eosinophils, in individuals aged 3 to 89 years from Uganda. Methods Immune phenotypes were measured using both conventional flow cytometry in 72 individuals, and full spectrum flow cytometry in 80 individuals. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) IFN-γ T cell responses were quantified in 332 individuals using an ELISpot assay. Full blood counts of all study participants were also obtained. Results The percentages of central memory (T CM ) and senescent CD4+ and CD8+ T cell subsets, effector memory (T EM ) CD8+ T cells and neutrophils increased with increasing age. On the other hand, the percentages of naïve T (T N ) and B (B N ) cells, atypical B cells (B A ), total lymphocytes, eosinophils and basophils decreased with increasing age. There was no change in CD4+ or CD8+ T effector memory RA (T EMRA ) cells, exhausted T cells, NK cells and monocytes with age. Higher eosinophil and basophil percentages were observed in males compared to females. T cell function as measured by IFN-γ responses to EBV increased with increasing age, peaking at 31-55 years. Conclusion The percentages of cell subsets differ between individuals from SSA compared to those elsewhere, perhaps reflecting a different antigenic milieu. These results serve as a reference for normal values in this population.","journal":"Frontiers in Immunology","year":2024,"id":460846,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":3,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.6459,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2024-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":697495,"name":"Marjorie Nakibuule","orcid":null,"position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":513487,"name":"Romin Roshan","orcid":"0000-0003-3449-3141","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1289415,"name":"Moses Kwizera Mbonye","orcid":null,"position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":432332,"name":"Wendell Miley","orcid":"0000-0001-8435-9982","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":351604,"name":"Denise Whitby","orcid":"0000-0002-7407-2563","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":454875,"name":"Robert Newton","orcid":"0000-0001-6715-9153","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":504575,"name":"Rosemary Rochford","orcid":"0000-0002-0001-5152","position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":454874,"name":"Stephen Cose","orcid":"0000-0002-5156-037X","position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":454870,"name":"Angela Nalwoga","orcid":"0000-0001-8259-4735","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":53,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T02:04:07.925246Z","pmid":"38562926","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}