Pahlavani M A
Age (Omaha). 1998 Oct;21(4):153-73. doi: 10.1007/s11357-998-0025-5.
The decline in immunologic function with age is associated with an increase in susceptibility to infections and the occurrence of autoimmune diseases and cancers. Hence, the restoration of immunologic function is expected to have a beneficial effect in reducing pathology and maintaining a healthy condition in advanced age. A number of therapeutic strategies have been employed to intervene in the aging immune system. This article reviews the effect of dietary restriction (DR), dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) treatment, melatonin (MLT) therapy, and exercise on modulating the immune responses and retarding/reducing immunosenescence. DR has been subject to intensive research and is known to be the most efficacious means of increasing longevity, reducing pathology and enhancing immune function. The circulatory levels of the androgenic hormone DHEA and the pineal hormone MLT decrease with increasing age, and this decrease has been correlated with the age-related decline in the immune system. Therefore, the observation that immunosenescence is associated with low levels of DHEA and MLT has provided a rationale for therapeutic intervention. DHEA treatment and MLT therapy both exhibit immunostimulatory actions and preliminary reports indicate that hormonal (DHEA or MLT) substitution therapy reverses immunosenescence in mice. Similarly, exercise in some studies has been shown to enhance the immune response. However, these findings have not been confirmed by other laboratories. Thus, at the present time, it is difficult to draw any definitive conclusions on the efficacy of DHEA, MLT, and exercise on reversing or restoring the aging immune system.
免疫功能随年龄增长而下降，这与感染易感性增加、自身免疫性疾病及癌症的发生有关。因此，恢复免疫功能有望对减轻老年病理状况及维持健康状态产生有益影响。人们已采用多种治疗策略来干预衰老的免疫系统。本文综述了饮食限制（DR）、脱氢表雄酮（DHEA）治疗、褪黑素（MLT）疗法及运动对调节免疫反应和延缓/减轻免疫衰老的作用。饮食限制已得到深入研究，并且已知是延长寿命、减轻病理状况及增强免疫功能的最有效方法。雄激素类激素DHEA及松果体激素MLT的循环水平随年龄增长而降低，且这种降低与免疫系统的年龄相关性衰退相关。因此，免疫衰老与低水平的DHEA和MLT相关这一观察结果为治疗干预提供了理论依据。DHEA治疗和MLT疗法均表现出免疫刺激作用，初步报告表明激素（DHEA或MLT）替代疗法可逆转小鼠的免疫衰老。同样，一些研究表明运动可增强免疫反应。然而，这些发现尚未得到其他实验室的证实。因此，目前很难就DHEA、MLT及运动在逆转或恢复衰老免疫系统方面的功效得出任何明确结论。
