Immunological studies of ageing. X. Impaired T lymphocytes and normal monocyte response from elderly humans to the mitogenic antibodies OKT3 and Leu 4.

Lymphocytes from old and young humans were cultured with PHA or the monoclonal antibodies OKT3 or Leu 4. The incorporation of [3H]TdR was significantly lower in cultures from old as compared to young donors, and the response of lymphocytes stimulated with OKT3 was the best discriminator of donor age. The mitogenic response of lymphocytes to these monoclonal antibodies requires monocytes. The response of T cells containing less than 5% adherent cells was diminished and the difference between old and young donors was not seen. The age-associated response was recovered when autologous or allogeneic monocytes were added to T cells. The age-associated response of T cells was the same, whether cultured with monocytes from young or old donors. Thus, monocytes from elderly subjects are not impaired with respect to their capacity to facilitate the proliferative response of T cells stimulated with monoclonal antibodies. Although lymphocytes from elderly donors were more sensitive to the inhibitory effect of prostaglandin E2, this did not account for the age-associated defect as indomethacin did not eliminate this defect. We conclude that the proliferative response of lymphocytes to OKT3 and Leu 4 is a more sensitive discriminator of lymphocyte donor age than is response to plant lectins, and that the age-associated defect in this response appears to reside within the T-cell population and not the monocyte population.