title: Age-related degeneracy of T cell repertoire: influence of the aged environment on T cell allorecognition.
abstract: The present study was undertaken to understand the mechanism of alteration of the alloreactivity of T cells in aged mice. The experiment utilized bone marrow chimeras revealed that the age-associated changes in alloreactivity are not primarily determined by the bone marrow stem cells but determined by the environment where stem cells differentiate into mature T cells. The limiting dilution analysis and microfluorometry analysis indicated that the changes lie in both frequency of alloreactive T cells and the expression of T cell antigen receptor. Such quantitative and qualitative changes seems to be the causes for declined alloreactivity of T cells in aged mice.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Asano
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Komuro
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kubo
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sano
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tada
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000375:Aging / Q000276:immunology*; D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000276:immunology / Q000502:physiology; D007107:Immune System / Q000276:immunology / Q000502:physiology; D008285:Major Histocompatibility Complex / Q000276:immunology*; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000276:immunology / Q000502:physiology