DJ-1 depletion slows down immunoaging in T-cell compartments

Decline in immune function during aging increases susceptibility to different aging related diseases. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms, especially the genetic factors contributing to imbalance of naïve/memory T-cell subpopulations, still remain largely elusive. Here we show that loss of DJ-1 encoded by PARK7 /DJ-1, causing early-onset familial Parkinson’s disease (PD), unexpectedly delayed immunoaging in both human and mice. Compared with two gender-matched unaffected sibling carriers of similar ages, the index PD patient with DJ-1 deficiency showed a decline in many critical immunoaging features, including almost doubled frequencies of non-senescent T cells. The observation of a ‘younger’ immune system in the index patient was further consolidated by the results in aged DJ-1 knockout mice. Our data from bone marrow chimera models and adoptive transfer experiments demonstrated that DJ-1 regulates several immunoaging features via hematopoietic-intrinsic and naïve-CD8-intrinsic mechanisms. Our finding suggests an unrecognized critical role of DJ-1 in regulating immunoaging, discovering a potent target to interfere with immunoaging- and aging-associated diseases.