Makinodan T, Lubinski J, Fong T C
Arch Pathol Lab Med. 1987 Oct;111(10):910-4.
The elucidation of age-related changes in immune functions is of great importance in light of the rising susceptibility of elderly individuals to infections, the likelihood that immunosenescence might also contribute to the age-related rise in cancer, and the role autoantibodies and immune complexes might play in general physical deterioration of aging individuals through their participation in subclinical chronic tissue damage. An attempt has been made to summarize our present knowledge on immune functions that are vulnerable to aging. It revealed that at the cellular level, all four antigen-responsive immune cells (T cells, B cells, monocytes, and killer cells) are vulnerable to aging, but T cells are perhaps the most vulnerable. Therefore, this article specifically examines the cellular and biochemical T cell-dependent concomitants of age-altered immune functions. One picture that is emerging suggests that at the molecular level, several control points exist along the path of gene expression that could be vulnerable to aging.
鉴于老年人对感染的易感性不断增加、免疫衰老可能也导致与年龄相关的癌症发病率上升，以及自身抗体和免疫复合物可能通过参与亚临床慢性组织损伤而在老年人的总体身体衰退中发挥作用，阐明免疫功能的年龄相关变化具有重要意义。本文试图总结我们目前对易受衰老影响的免疫功能的认识。结果显示，在细胞水平上，所有四种抗原反应性免疫细胞（T细胞、B细胞、单核细胞和杀伤细胞）都易受衰老影响，但T细胞可能是最脆弱的。因此，本文专门研究了与年龄相关的免疫功能改变所伴随的细胞和生化方面依赖T细胞的情况。正在形成的一种观点表明，在分子水平上，基因表达过程中存在几个可能易受衰老影响的控制点。
