Bovbjerg D H, Kim Y T, Schwab R, Schmitt K, DeBlasio T, Weksler M E
Department of Medicine, Cornell University Medical College, New York, New York.
Cell Immunol. 1991 Jul;135(2):519-25. doi: 10.1016/0008-8749(91)90294-l.
Older humans and experimental animals have been repeatedly found to have higher titers of autoantibodies than do younger individuals despite the impaired responses of older individuals to foreign antigens. The studies reported here were designed to examine the relationship between these two age-related changes in antibody responses. Antibody response to foreign antigen was measured concurrently with autoantibody response in the same mice. Old mice (18-24 months old) had decreased responses to foreign antigens and increased responses to bromelain-treated syngeneic erythrocytes, compared to young mice (2 months old). In vitro mixing experiments were consistent with the possibility that suppressor cell activity in spleen cells from old mice reduce the antibody response to foreign antigen but not to autologous antigen. The results support an emerging view that age-associated changes in immune responses are the result of dysregulation rather than exhaustion of the immune system.
尽管年长者对外源抗原的反应受损，但反复发现老年人类和实验动物的自身抗体滴度高于年轻人。此处报告的研究旨在检验抗体反应中这两种与年龄相关的变化之间的关系。在同一只小鼠中同时测量对外源抗原的抗体反应和自身抗体反应。与年轻小鼠（2个月大）相比，老年小鼠（18 - 24个月大）对外源抗原的反应降低，而对菠萝蛋白酶处理的同基因红细胞的反应增加。体外混合实验符合这样一种可能性，即老年小鼠脾细胞中的抑制细胞活性降低了对外源抗原而非自身抗原的抗体反应。这些结果支持了一种新出现的观点，即免疫反应中与年龄相关的变化是免疫调节异常而非免疫系统耗竭的结果。
