Continuous immunotypes describe human immune variation and predict diverse responses

• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1705065114
• Publication Date: 2017-07-11T00:50:23Z
• Authors: Kevin J. Kaczorowski; Karthik Shekhar; Dieudonné Nkuliki...; Cornelia L. Dekker; Holden Maecker; Mark M. Davis; Arup K. Chakraborty; Petter Brodin
• Keywords: Aging; 1.1 Normal biological development and functioning; Immunology; Mononuclear; 610; immune cell composition; systems immunology; Cohort Studies; Immune System Phenomena; 03 medical and health sciences; Clinical Research; Underpinning research; Leukocytes; Humans; Immunity, Cellular; 0303 health sciences; Biomedical and Clinical Sciences; Inflammatory and immune system; aging; Immunity; Flow Cytometry; 3. Good health; human immune variation; Immune System; Cytomegalovirus Infections; Leukocytes, Mononuclear; Generic health relevance; Cellular

Significance The human immune system consists of many different white blood cells that coordinate their actions to fight infections. The balance between these cell populations is determined by direct interactions and soluble factors such as cytokines, which serve as messengers between cells. Understanding how the interactions between cell populations influence the function of the immune system as a whole will allow us to better distinguish patients most at risk for specific infections or immune-mediated diseases and inform vaccination strategies. Here, we determine key collective interactions between white blood cells present in blood samples taken from healthy individuals. This perspective allows us to predict functional responses and describe previously unappreciated differences between age groups and in individuals carrying cytomegalovirus.