IMMUNOLOGY2026™ Conference Recordings For Attendees-Developmental and epigenetic remodeling of inflammation in the aging human innate immune system

Developmental and epigenetic remodeling of inflammation in the aging human innate immune system

Video Transcription

Video Summary

Prabhu Arunachalam described his lab’s work on how the innate immune system changes with aging, focusing on CD14+ monocytes. Using human blood samples from young and older adults, his team found that older people’s monocytes produce more inflammatory cytokines after stimulation, especially IL-1β, TNF, and IL-6. Single-cell multi-omic and chromatin accessibility analyses showed that these cells do not change much at the gene-expression level, but they do show increased AP1 transcription-factor accessibility and reduced IRF/CBP accessibility. The AP1-high state was consistently seen across multiple public and new datasets. He also suggested these changes may begin earlier, at the hematopoietic stem cell level, based on lineage and single-cell analyses. Overall, aging appears to reprogram innate immune responsiveness through epigenetic changes rather than altered baseline transcription.

Meta Tag

Date April 17, 2026 11:00 AM - 11:15 AM

Room 156

Session New Paradigms in T Cell Regulation

Speaker Prabhu S Arunachalam

Track Immune Response Regulation: Cellular Mechanisms (IRC)

Year 2026

Keywords

aging innate immunity

CD14+ monocytes

inflammatory cytokines

AP1 transcription factor

epigenetic reprogramming

April 17, 2026 11:00 AM - 11:15 AM

156

New Paradigms in T Cell Regulation

Prabhu S Arunachalam

Immune Response Regulation: Cellular Mechanisms (IRC)

2026