Ershler W B, Hebert J C, Blow A J, Granter S R, Lynch J
Int J Immunopharmacol. 1985;7(4):465-71. doi: 10.1016/0192-0561(85)90065-7.
The antibody response to a variety of antigens has been shown to diminish with age. We investigated the capacity for Thymosin Alpha One (T alpha 1) treatment to augment antibody production in tetanus toxoid (TT) and pneumococcal capsular polysaccharide (PN) inoculated young and old mice. We also measured survival of these immunized mice after aerosol exposure to Streptococcus pneumoniae. As predicted antibody response to TT, but not PN, was significantly reduced in the old animals and T alpha 1 augmented antitetanus antibody in both young and old mice. T alpha 1 did not have an effect on anti pneumococcal antibody production. All mice that had received PN did have an antibody response, yet survival after exposure to the organism was strikingly less in the old animals. Our data support the contention that antibody response to T-dependent antigens (such as tetanus toxoid) falls with aging but can be reconstituted somewhat by thymic factors. Furthermore, for T-independent antigen (such as pneumococcal capsular antigens) the age-related changes are less evident. In the latter situation, the presence of a brisk antibody response after vaccination was not sufficient to prevent pneumonia and death in old animals.
已证明，对多种抗原的抗体反应会随着年龄的增长而减弱。我们研究了用胸腺肽α1（Tα1）治疗增强破伤风类毒素（TT）和肺炎球菌荚膜多糖（PN）接种的年轻和老年小鼠抗体产生的能力。我们还测量了这些免疫小鼠经气溶胶暴露于肺炎链球菌后的存活率。正如预期的那样，老年动物对TT的抗体反应显著降低，但对PN的抗体反应未降低，并且Tα1增强了年轻和老年小鼠的抗破伤风抗体。Tα1对抗肺炎球菌抗体的产生没有影响。所有接受PN的小鼠确实都有抗体反应，但老年动物暴露于该病原体后的存活率明显较低。我们的数据支持以下观点：对T细胞依赖性抗原（如破伤风类毒素）的抗体反应会随着年龄增长而下降，但胸腺因子可在一定程度上使其恢复。此外，对于T细胞非依赖性抗原（如肺炎球菌荚膜抗原），与年龄相关的变化不太明显。在后一种情况下，接种疫苗后出现强烈的抗体反应不足以预防老年动物的肺炎和死亡。
