Department of Internal Medicine and Medical Therapy, University of Messina, Messina, Italy.
Exp Gerontol. 2012 May;47(5):394-400. doi: 10.1016/j.exger.2012.03.007. Epub 2012 Mar 17.
Cardiovascular (CV) diseases and related complications are the main causes of morbidity and mortality in the elderly. CV progenitor cells, including CD34+ cells, play a role in delaying the progression of atherosclerosis. In the present study we observed 100 octogenarians for seven years, in order to address the question of whether CD34+ cell number is a predictor of longevity in selected survivors. We also checked for associations of cell expression of manganese superoxide dismutase (Mn-SOD), catalase (CAT), and glutathione peroxidase type-1 (GPx-1) antioxidative enzymes, with number of CD34+ progenitor cells and mortality. We found that in very old subjects the number of CD34+ cells at baseline were higher in subjects who reached older age at death or were still living at the end of observation period, with respect to subjects who died from all causes, including CV deaths. On the other hand, HDL-C plasma levels and, with the exception of diabetes, the classic CV risk factors (hypertension, smoking, hypercholesterolemia) showed a loss of their predictive power. A significant association between the redox system of CD34+ cells and mortality was also observed. These data suggest that, even in the elderly, CD34+ cells maintain their role in predicting mortality. CD34+ cells could thus be considered as a biomarker of longevity.
心血管疾病（CV）及其相关并发症是老年人发病率和死亡率的主要原因。心血管祖细胞，包括 CD34+细胞，在延缓动脉粥样硬化进展方面发挥作用。本研究观察了 100 名 80 岁以上的老年人，以探讨 CD34+细胞数量是否是选择幸存者长寿的预测指标。我们还检查了细胞表达的锰超氧化物歧化酶（Mn-SOD）、过氧化氢酶（CAT）和谷胱甘肽过氧化物酶 1 型（GPx-1）抗氧化酶与 CD34+祖细胞数量和死亡率之间的关联。我们发现，在非常年长的受试者中，与因各种原因（包括心血管死亡）死亡的受试者相比，在死亡时达到更高年龄或在观察期结束时仍存活的受试者的基线 CD34+细胞数量更高。另一方面，HDL-C 血浆水平以及除糖尿病以外的经典心血管危险因素（高血压、吸烟、高胆固醇血症）失去了预测能力。还观察到 CD34+细胞的氧化还原系统与死亡率之间存在显著关联。这些数据表明，即使在老年人中，CD34+细胞仍保持其预测死亡率的作用。因此，CD34+细胞可以被认为是长寿的生物标志物。
