Age-related changes of the antigen-specific antibody formation in vitro and PHA-induced T-cell proliferation in individuals who met the health criteria of the Senieur protocol

Abstract

The antigen-specific antibody secretion in vitro after immunisation with the primary T-cell dependent antigen Helix pomatia Haemocyanin (HPH) was investigated in both young and elderly individuals, who all met the health admission criteria for immunogerontological studies as detailed in the SENIEUR protocol. In addition, elderly non-Senieur persons were incorporated in this study. Young and elderly Senieur volunteers were fully comparable in terms of the occurrence of anti-HPH antibody secreting cells after in vitro simulation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells with variable doses of the antigen. In contrast, the non-Senieur elderly showed a lower number of anti-HPH antibody secreting cells in vitro. PHA-conditioned medium did enhance this in vitro response, whereas the addition of IL-2 remained ineffective. The PHA-induced T-cell proliferation was found to be somewhat impaired in elderly Senieur individuals and significantly lower in elderly non-Senieur individuals compared to young healthy persons. Using an immunofluorescence double staining technique after BrdU incorporation, the phenotype of the proliferating cells was determined. Again the total number of proliferating cells was impaired in the non-Senieur elderly. No changes in the relative contribution of CD4+ or CD8+ cells to the number of proliferating cells were found in the different age groups. On the other hand, a significantly lower number of proliferating cells with IL-2 receptor expression were detected in the non-Senieur individuals, which could account for the lack of response to IL-2 in this group. Our study clearly shows that so-called age-associated immune deficiency can be the result of disease and not necessarily of the ageing process itself.