Implications of Oxidative Stress and Cellular Senescence in Age-Related Thymus Involution

The human thymus is a primary lymphoepithelial organ which supports the production of self-tolerant T cells with competent and regulatory functions. Paradoxically, despite the crucial role that it exerts in T cell-mediated immunity and prevention of systemic autoimmunity, the thymus is the first organ of the body that exhibits age-associated degeneration/regression, termed “thymic involution.” A hallmark of this early phenomenon is a progressive decline of thymic mass as well as a decreased output of naïve T cells, thus resulting in impaired immune response. Importantly, thymic involution has been recently linked with cellular senescence which is a stress response induced by various stimuli. Accumulation of senescent cells in tissues has been implicated in aging and a plethora of age-related diseases. In addition, several lines of evidence indicate that oxidative stress, a well-established trigger of senescence, is also involved in thymic involution, thus highlighting a possible interplay between oxidative stress, senescence, and thymic involution.