Burns E A, L'Hommedieu G D, Cunning J L, Goodwin J S
Department of Medicine, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine, Milwaukee.
Lymphokine Cytokine Res. 1994 Aug;13(4):227-31.
The current series of experiments were designed to explore the role of the B cell growth factor, interleukin-4 (IL-4), in the age-related decrease in production of antitetanus toxoid antibody in vitro. Exogenous recombinant IL-4 led to significant suppression of antitetanus toxoid antibody synthesis and numbers of antitetanus toxoid antibody-secreting B cells in cultures from healthy old subjects and healthy young subjects. These effects were most pronounced when IL-4 was present during the early phase of culture. Lymphocytes from old subjects were less sensitive to these effects and produced significantly less IL-4 than did lymphocytes from young controls. The addition of exogenous IL-4 may be inhibiting early activation signals that normally stimulate proliferation of B cells. A decreased sensitivity to the growth-promoting effects of IL-4 may be one of the mechanisms underlying defective specific antibody synthesis in aging.
当前系列实验旨在探究B细胞生长因子白细胞介素-4（IL-4）在体外抗破伤风类毒素抗体产生的年龄相关下降中所起的作用。外源性重组IL-4导致健康老年受试者和健康年轻受试者培养物中抗破伤风类毒素抗体合成以及抗破伤风类毒素抗体分泌B细胞数量显著受到抑制。当在培养早期阶段存在IL-4时，这些效应最为明显。老年受试者的淋巴细胞对这些效应不太敏感，产生的IL-4明显少于年轻对照的淋巴细胞。外源性IL-4的添加可能正在抑制通常刺激B细胞增殖的早期激活信号。对IL-4促生长效应的敏感性降低可能是衰老过程中特异性抗体合成缺陷的潜在机制之一。
