The Characterization of Varicella Zoster Virus Specific T Cells In Skin and Blood During Ageing Milica Vukmanovic-Stejic1, Daisy Sandhu 1,2, Judith A. Seidel1, Neil Patel1,2, Toni O. Sobande 1, Elaine Agius1,2, Sarah E. Jackson1, Judilyn Fuentes-Duculan3, Mayte Suarez- Farinas 3, Neil A. Mabbott4, Katie E. Lacy5, Graham Ogg6 , Frank O Nestle5, James G. Krueger 3, Malcolm H.A. Rustin 2, Arne N. Akbar 1 1Division of Infection and Immunity, University College London, London, W1T 4JF, England, United Kingdom. 2 Department of Dermatology, Royal Free Hospital, London, NW3 2QG, England, United Kingdom. 3Laboratory for Investigative Dermatology, Rockefeller University, New York, NY 10021, USA 4The Roslin Institute and Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, University of Edinburgh, Easter Bush, Midlothian, EH25 9RG, UK 5 St. Johns Institute of Dermatology, Guys and St. Thomas' Hospital, London. 6 MRC Human Immunology Unit, University of Oxford, NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, Oxford, UK Corresponding author: Professor Arne N. Akbar, or Dr M Vukmanovic-Stejic, tel: +44-20-31082172/ 02031082173 E-mail:
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[email protected] 1 This work was funded by grants from the Medical Research Council, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, The British Skin Foundation and Dermatrust. Key words: T cell, memory, skin resident, antigen-specific, ageing Abbreviations: VZV (varicella zoster virus), Treg (regulatory T cells), CMV (cytomegalovirus), HSV (herpes simplex virus), Running title: Effects of age on VZV specific T cells in blood and skin 2 ABSTRACT The varicella-zoster virus (VZV) re-activation increases during ageing. Although the effects of VZV re-activation are observed in the skin (shingles) the number or functional capacity of cutaneous VZV specific T cells have not been investigated.