Royal Veterinary College, Infection and Immunity Group, Department of Veterinary Basic Sciences, Royal College Street, London NW1 0TU, United Kingdom.
Aging Dis. 2011 Oct;2(5):437-43. Epub 2011 Oct 28.
Age-related regression of the thymus is associated with a decline in naïve T cell output which is thought to contribute to the reduction in T cell diversity in older individuals that is partially responsible for an increase in susceptibility and severity of infections, cancers and autoimmune diseases. Thymic involution is one of the most dramatic and ubiquitous changes in the ageing immune system, but the precise regulators remain anonymous. However, a picture is emerging, implicating extrinsic and intrinsic factors that may contribute towards age-associated thymic involution. In this review we assess the role of the thymic microenvironment as a possible target of thymic involution, question whether thymocyte development in the aged thymus is functional and explore why the thymus involutes.
与胸腺相关的年龄相关的退化与幼稚 T 细胞输出的减少有关，人们认为这导致了老年人 T 细胞多样性的减少，部分原因是增加了感染、癌症和自身免疫性疾病的易感性和严重程度。胸腺萎缩是衰老免疫系统中最显著和普遍的变化之一，但确切的调节因子仍然未知。然而，一幅图景正在浮现，涉及可能导致与年龄相关的胸腺萎缩的外在和内在因素。在这篇综述中，我们评估了胸腺微环境作为胸腺萎缩的一个可能靶点的作用，质疑老年胸腺中胸腺细胞的发育是否具有功能性，并探讨为什么胸腺会萎缩。
