Stacy Sue, Pasquali Amanda, Sexton Valerie L, Cantwell Angelene M, Kraig Ellen, Dube Peter H
Department of Cellular and Structural Biology, University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, TX 78229, USA.
J Immunol. 2008 Jul 1;181(1):109-15. doi: 10.4049/jimmunol.181.1.109.
Immune senescence in the elderly results in decreased immunity with a concomitant increase in susceptibility to infection and diminished efficacy of vaccination. Nonhuman primate models have proven critical for testing of vaccines and therapeutics in the general population, but a model using old animals has not been established. Toward that end, immunity to LcrV, a protective Ag from Yersinia pestis, was tested in young and old baboons. Surprisingly, there was no age-associated loss in immune competence; LcrV elicited high-titer, protective Ab responses in the older individuals. The primary responses in the younger baboons were lower, but they did show boosting upon secondary immunization to the levels achieved in the old animals. The LcrV Ag was also tested in mice and, as expected, age-associated loss of immunity was seen; older animals responded with lower-titer Abs and, as a result, were more susceptible to Yersinia challenge. Thus, although age-related loss in immune function has been observed in humans, rodents, and some nonhuman primates, baboons appear to be unusual; they age without losing immune competence.
老年人的免疫衰老导致免疫力下降，同时感染易感性增加，疫苗接种效果降低。非人类灵长类动物模型已被证明对普通人群的疫苗和治疗方法测试至关重要，但尚未建立使用老年动物的模型。为此，在年轻和老年狒狒中测试了对鼠疫耶尔森菌保护性抗原LcrV的免疫反应。令人惊讶的是，免疫能力没有与年龄相关的损失；LcrV在老年个体中引发了高滴度的保护性抗体反应。年轻狒狒的初次反应较低，但二次免疫后确实显示出增强至老年动物所达到的水平。LcrV抗原也在小鼠中进行了测试，正如预期的那样，观察到了与年龄相关的免疫损失；老年动物产生的抗体滴度较低，因此更容易受到耶尔森菌的攻击。因此，尽管在人类、啮齿动物和一些非人类灵长类动物中观察到了与年龄相关的免疫功能损失，但狒狒似乎不同寻常；它们衰老但不丧失免疫能力。
