@article {13510, title = {Cohabitation as a determinant of adaptive and innate immune cell profiles: Findings from the Health and Retirement Study.}, journal = {Brain, Behavior, and Immunity - Health}, volume = {33}, year = {2023}, pages = {100676}, abstract = {

INTRODUCTION: Non-genetic factors are important but poorly understood determinants of immune profiles. Age and Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection remain two well documented non-genetic determinants of the immune profile. Recently, one study identified cohabitation in the same household as an important determinant of immune profiles.

METHODS: We used immunophenotyping data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) to evaluate the association between cohabitation and the adaptive (subsets of T-cells, B-cells) and innate immune profiles (subsets of monocytes, natural killer cells and neutrophils). We compared adaptive and innate immune cell profiles using immunophenotyping data from 1184 same-household pairs (cohabitating partners) to 1184 non-household pairs to evaluate the association between cohabitation and adaptive immune cell profiles. We used data from 1737 same-household pairs and 1737 non-household pairs to evaluate the association between cohabitation and innate cell profiles. Household and non-household pairs were matched on age ({\textpm}2years), educational background and race/ethnicity to minimize confounding due to these factors. The adaptive immune cells and innate immune cell profiles were compressed to two coordinates using multidimensional scaling (MDS). The Euclidean distances between same-household pairs were compared to the distances between non-household pairs for the adaptive and innate cell profiles separately using two sample independent t-tests. We also performed additional adjustment for age and BMI differences, CMV serostatus and smoking concordance/discordance status among household members.

RESULTS: For adaptive immune cell profiles, the mean Euclidean distance between same-household pairs was 4\% lower than the non-household pairs (p~=~0.03). When stratified by concordance for CMV serostatus among household pairs, the Euclidean distance was significantly lower by 8\% in the same-household pairs as compared to non-household pairs among those who were discordant for CMV serostatus (p~=~0.01) and among same-household pairs who were CMV seronegative (p~=~0.02) after covariate adjustment. The mean Euclidian distance between same-household pairs was also 8\% lower than non-household pairs for the innate immune cell profiles (p-value <0.0001) and this difference remained consistent across all strata of CMV infection.

DISCUSSION: This study confirms that cohabitation is associated with similarity in immune cell profiles. The differential effects of cohabitation on the adaptive and innate immune profiles suggest that further studies into the common environmental factors that influence individual immune cell subsets need to be evaluated in greater detail.

}, keywords = {cohabition, Immune System}, issn = {2666-3546}, doi = {10.1016/j.bbih.2023.100676}, author = {Ramasubramanian, Ramya and Kim, Jae Won and Guan, Weihua and Meier, Helen C S and Crimmins, Eileen and Jessica Faul and Bharat Thyagarajan} } @article {11930, title = {Cross sectional association between cytomegalovirus seropositivity, inflammation and cognitive impairment in elderly cancer survivors.}, journal = {Cancer Causes \& Control}, volume = {33}, year = {2022}, pages = {81-90}, abstract = {

PURPOSE: The higher prevalence of cognitive impairment/ dementia among cancer survivors is likely multifactorial. Since both exposures to cytomegalovirus (CMV) and inflammation are common among elderly cancer survivors, we evaluated their contribution towards dementia.

METHODS: Data from 1387 cancer survivors and 7004 participants without cancer in the 2016 wave of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) was used in this study. Two inflammatory biomarkers, C-reactive protein (CRP) and neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), were used to create an inflammation score. We used survey logistic regression adjusted for survey design parameters.

RESULTS: CMV seropositivity was not associated with cognitive impairment among cancer survivors (p = 0.2). In addition, inflammation was associated with elevated odds of cognitive impairment (OR = 2.2, 95\% CI [1.2, 4.2]). Cancer survivors who were both CMV seropositive and had increased inflammation had the highest odds of cognitive impairment compared to those who were CMV seronegative and had low inflammation (OR = 3.8, 95\% CI [1.5, 9.4]). The stratified analysis among cancer survivors showed this association was seen only among cancer survivors in whom the cancer was diagnosed within three years of measurement of inflammation score and CMV serostatus (OR = 18.5; 95\% CI [6.1, 56.1]).

CONCLUSION: The CMV seropositivity and high inflammation was associated with higher cognitive impairment among cancer survivors. The stronger associations seen among cancer survivors diagnosed within the last three years suggest that strategies to reduce CMV activation and inflammation during or immediately after cancer treatment may be important in reducing the prevalence of cognitive impairment/ dementia among cancer survivors.

}, keywords = {Cancer survivor, CMV Seropositivity, Dementia, Inflammation}, issn = {1573-7225}, doi = {https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-021-01504-3}, author = {Vivek, Sithara and Heather Hammond Nelson and Anna Prizment and Jessica Faul and Eileen M. Crimmins and Bharat Thyagarajan} } @article {10426, title = {COMBINED EFFECT OF CMV SEROPOSITIVITY AND SYSTEMIC INFLAMMATION ON DEMENTIA PREVALENCE IN CANCER SURVIVORS}, journal = {Innovation in Aging}, volume = {3}, year = {2019}, pages = {S461-S461}, abstract = {Though cancer patients treated with multi-modal therapies demonstrate higher levels of systemic inflammation, which is associated with dementia, cancer survivors have not shown a consistent association with dementia. Since several studies reported an independent association between cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection, inflammation and dementia in non-cancer populations, we have evaluated whether CMV infection and systemic inflammation were associated with increased prevalence of dementia in cancer survivors in Health and Retirement Study (HRS). We evaluated prevalence of dementia (using score <=7 on the 27-point scale) among 1607 cancer survivors, in whom we measured CMV seropositivity and two biomarkers of systemic inflammation: C-reactive protein (CRP) and neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR). The prevalence of CMV seropositivity was 68.26\% (n=1097), while prevalence of increased systemic inflammation [CRP \>5mg/L and NLR \>4] was 4.23\% (n=68). Using survey logistic regression, adjusted for age, race, gender, BMI (Body Mass Index) and sampling design, cancer survivors who were both CMV seropositive and had increased systemic inflammation had the highest odds of dementia compared to those who were CMV seronegative and had low levels of systemic inflammation (OR=6.59; 95\% CI [2.81, 15.44]; p\<.0001). Cancer survivors who were CMV seropositive without evidence of systemic inflammation had a lower but increased odds of dementia (OR=2.02; 95\% CI [1.17, 3.47]; p=0.01). Odds of dementia among those who were CMV seronegative with elevated systemic inflammation was not significant (p=0.09). Our study demonstrates a possible role for ongoing CMV induced inflammation in determining dementia prevalence among cancer survivors that needs further confirmation.}, keywords = {Cancer, cnv, Dementia, Inflammation, seropositivity}, issn = {2399-5300}, doi = {10.1093/geroni/igz038.1724}, author = {Vivek, Sithara and Bharat Thyagarajan and Heather Hammond Nelson and Anna Prizment and Eileen M. Crimmins and Jessica Faul} }