Age-associated alteration in naive and memory Th17 cell response in humans

Jin Soo Lee, Won Woo Lee, Sang Hyun Kim, Youna Kang, Naeun Lee, Min Sun Shin, Seong Wook Kang, Insoo Kang

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Abstract

Th17 cells produce IL-17 that plays an important role in host defense. However, little is known about whether aging affects human Th17 cells. Here we demonstrated that healthy elderly people (age≥65) had a decreased frequency of IL-17-producing cells in memory CD4+ T cells compared to healthy young people (age≤40) while both groups had similar frequencies of IFN-γ-producing cells in the same memory cell subset as measured by flow cytometry. In contrast, the healthy elderly had increased differentiation of IL-17-producing effector cells but not IFN-γ-producing cells from naive CD4+ T cells compared to the healthy young. The results of ELISA also showed similar findings with increased IL-17 production from naive CD4+ T cells and decreased IL-17 production from memory CD4+ T cells in the elderly compared to the young. These findings indicate that aging differentially affects naive and memory Th17 cell responses in humans.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)84-91
Number of pages8
JournalClinical Immunology
Volume140
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 2011

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We thank Ms. Amy Shelton and Yale Center for Clinical Investigation ( UL1 RR024139 from NCRR ) for assisting in the recruitment of human subjects. We are grateful to Dr. Alexia Belperron for her critical review on the manuscript. This work was supported in part by grants from the National Institutes of Health ( AG028069 , AG030834 , AR049444 , U19 AI082713 , AT 005241 all to IK). Insoo Kang is a participant in the World Class University Program of Republic of Korea.

Keywords

  • Aging
  • CD4+ T cells
  • Human
  • IL-17
  • T helper 17 (Th17) cells

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