{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,1]],"date-time":"2026-09-01T16:30:16Z","timestamp":1788280216947,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":42,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,26]],"date-time":"2025-08-26T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1756166400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Immunol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title>Aims<\/jats:title><jats:p>to clarify the endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS) status of CD4+ T lymphocytes in sepsis patients, particularly elderly individuals aged over 65 years, and to elucidate its association with mTOR-mediated autophagic-lysosomal disorder.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title><jats:p>62 sepsis patients were enrolled from January 1 to July 31, 2024. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were isolated within 24 hours post-enrollment. flow cytometry was used to quantify the expression levels of ERS markers (CHOP and GRP78) and mTOR-mediated autophagic-lysosomal fusion markers (mTOR, LC3II and P62) on CD4+ T lymphocytes. These markers were compared between sepsis and non-sepsis patients, elderly and non-elderly sepsis patients, survivors and non-survivors based on in-hospital mortality. The correlations between CHOP mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) and CD4+ T lymphocyte count, LC3II MFI, and P62 MFI were also analyzed.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results<\/jats:title><jats:p>Compared to non-septic controls, sepsis patients exhibited significantly higher CHOP and GRP78 MFIs (210.9 versus 142.9, P&amp;lt;0.001 and 279.1 versus 223.7, P=0.045). Within the sepsis group, elderly patients and non-survivors showed significantly higher CHOP and GRP78 MFIs (334.4 versus 164.2, P&amp;lt;0.001 and 374.3 versus 218.6, P&amp;lt;0.001; 390.8 versus 177.6, P&amp;lt;0.001 and 389.1 versus 227.0, P&amp;lt;0.001). CHOP MFI on CD4+ T lymphocytes showed significant correlations with LC3II and P62 MFIs in sepsis patients (Pearson\u2019s correlation r=0.657, p&amp;lt;0.001 and r=0.811, P&amp;lt;0.001), elderly sepsis patients (r=0.644, P&amp;lt;0.001 and r=0.710, P&amp;lt;0.001), and non-survived elderly sepsis patients (r=0.897, P&amp;lt;0.001 and r=0.772, P=0.009).<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title><jats:p>ERS in CD4+ T cells was enhanced in sepsis patients, particularly in elderly and non-survived individuals; ERS is strongly associated with mTOR-mediated autophagic-lysosomal disorder.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Clinical trial registration<\/jats:title><jats:p><jats:ext-link>chictr.org.cn<\/jats:ext-link>, identifier ChiCTR2300074175.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fimmu.2025.1648075","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,26]],"date-time":"2025-08-26T04:13:49Z","timestamp":1756181629000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["The endoplasmic reticulum stress status of CD4+ T lymphocytes and its association with mTOR-mediated autophagic-lysosomal disorder in elderly sepsis patients"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"16","author":[{"given":"Wei","family":"Cheng","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jiahui","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Dongkai","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yawen","family":"Xie","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xianli","family":"Lei","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hao","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Na","family":"Cui","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,26]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(19)32989-7","article-title":"Global, regional, and national sepsis incidence and mortality, 1990-2017: analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study","volume":"395","author":"Rudd","year":"2020","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1164\/rccm.201504-0781OC","article-title":"International forum of acute care T: assessment of global incidence and mortality of hospital-treated sepsis. 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