Premature thymic functional senescence is a hallmark of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia survivorship
The researchers investigated thymic immunosenescence in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (cALL) survivors. The healthy participant cohort consisted of participants from the CARTaGENE cohort and an institutional cohort from the Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal. The thymic immunosenescence biomarker, signal joint T-cell receptor excision circles (TREC), was evaluated and was highly correlated with age in healthy participants and cALL survivors. While TREC levels declined with age in both groups, cALL survivors exhibited a systematic immunoage acceleration ranging from 5.9 to 88.3 years. This immunoage gain was independent of age at diagnosis and treatment modalities but was more pronounced in females and those with metabolic syndrome. The decline in TREC was unrelated to blood cell counts, suggesting selective thymic aging.