Louis Pasteur Center for Medical Research, Sakyoku, Kyoto, Japan.
BMJ Open. 2013 Jan 11;3(1):e002113. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2012-002113.
To track changes in interferon (IFN) production in healthy individuals to shed light on the effect these changes have on the course of healthy ageing.
Study is based on data that were collected over 24 years from a cohort of individuals whose IFN-α production was quantified as a part of their annual routine health check-up.
All individuals in this study underwent regular health check-ups at Louis Pasteur Center for Medical Research.
295 healthy individuals (159 males and 136 females) without a history of cancer, autoimmune diseases and hepatitis C virus (HCV) whose IFN-α production was quantified more than five times within 24 years were selected. Finally, 29 males and 4 females whose IFN-α production was quantified more than 25 times were selected and their data were analysed using a mixed model.
HVJ stimulated IFN-α production was quantified. Healthy individual's periodical log transformed IFN-α values (y) were plotted versus age (x) and fitted to linear (y=mx+n) and quadratic formula (y=ax(2)+bx+c) expressions to reveal changes in the IFN-α production in these healthy individuals.
The linear expression showed that log (IFN-α) had a slight tendency to decline (3% over 10 years). However, the quadratic formula analysis showed the quadratic expression to be more positive than negative (a concave U-shaped pattern) which means that individuals' once declining IFN production recovered as they aged.
Although we observed a marginal decline in IFN-α production, we also observed that IFN production recovered even in individuals in their mid50s to early 60s. These results combined with our previous cross-sectional studies of patients with various diseases suggest that in healthy individuals, the impairment of IFN production is triggered more by the onset of disease (notwithstanding the cause) rather than by ageing.
跟踪健康个体中干扰素（IFN）产生的变化，以了解这些变化对健康衰老过程的影响。
本研究基于一项为期 24 年的队列研究数据，该研究对个体 IFN-α 的产生进行了量化，作为其年度常规健康检查的一部分。
本研究中的所有个体都在路易巴斯德医学研究中心进行定期健康检查。
选择了 295 名无癌症、自身免疫性疾病和丙型肝炎病毒（HCV）病史且在 24 年内 IFN-α 产生被量化超过 5 次的健康个体（男性 159 名，女性 136 名）。最终，选择了 29 名男性和 4 名女性，他们的 IFN-α 产生被量化超过 25 次，并使用混合模型分析了他们的数据。
用 HVJ 刺激 IFN-α 的产生并进行量化。将健康个体的周期性对数转换 IFN-α 值（y）与年龄（x）作图，并拟合到线性（y=mx+n）和二次公式（y=ax(2)+bx+c）表达式，以揭示这些健康个体 IFN-α 产生的变化。
线性表达表明 log(IFN-α) 略有下降趋势（10 年内下降 3%）。然而，二次公式分析表明二次表达式呈正相关（凹 U 型模式），这意味着个体的 IFN 产生一旦下降，随着年龄的增长会恢复。
虽然我们观察到 IFN-α 产生略有下降，但我们也观察到 IFN 产生在个体 50 多岁到 60 岁出头时恢复。这些结果结合我们之前对各种疾病患者的横断面研究表明，在健康个体中，IFN 产生的损伤更多是由疾病的发生（不论原因）触发的，而不是由衰老引起的。
