ABSTRACT
Clostridioides (formerly Clostridium) difficile is the most common cause of hospital-acquired infection, and advanced age is a risk factor for C. difficile infection. Disruption of the intestinal microbiota and immune responses contribute to host susceptibility and severity of C. difficile infection. However, the impact of aging on the cellular immune response associated with C. difficile infection in the setting of advanced age remains to be well described. This study explores the effect of age on cellular immune responses in C. difficile infection as well as disease severity. Young adult mice (2-3 months old) and aged mice (22-28 months old) were rendered susceptible to C. difficile infection with cefoperazone and then infected with C. difficile strains of varying disease-causing potential. Aged mice infected with C. difficile develop more severe clinical disease, compared to young mice. Tissue-specific CD45+ immune cell responses occurred at the time of peak disease severity in the cecum and colon of all mice infected with a high-virulence strain of C. difficile; however, significant deficits in intestinal neutrophils and eosinophils were detected in aged mice. Interestingly, while C. difficile infection in young mice was associated with a robust increase in cecal and colonic eosinophils, there was a complete lack of an intestinal eosinophil response in aged counterparts accompanied by a simultaneous increase in blood eosinophils with severe disease. These findings demonstrate that age-related alterations in immune responses are associated with significantly worse C. difficile infection and support a key role for intestinal eosinophils in mitigating C. difficile-mediated disease severity.
