Influence of age, castration, and testosterone on T cell subsets in healthy and leukemia grafted mice.
The distribution of T cell subsets in pubertal (2 months) and post-pubertal (10 months) mice showed a significant decrease in the percentage of CD4+ splenocytes and peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) with age, unlike the percentage of CD8+ cells in PBL, which remained unchanged. The change in the distribution of T cell subsets in the spleen and blood occurred in 2 months old castrated mice, as in 10 months old animals. P388 tumor grew better in post-pubertal and in castrated mice than in young mice. The intact mice survived longer than the castrated ones. The relative number of CD4+, CD8+ and CD2+ splenocytes was lower in transplanted intact mice than that in controls. The CD8+ and CD2+ subsets in the blood of 2 months transplanted mice were higher than those in controls, whereas in PBL, in 10 months old and castrated mice, the T lymphocyte subsets remain unchanged. Depo-testosterone (DT) injection strongly reduced weight and tumor growth in all the intact and castrated animals. A significant correlation is observed between the tumor weight and testosterone level in the plasma of the 2 months old DT treated mice. Moreover, DT injection induced a significant increase in the percentage of blood CD8+ cells in all the batches. These data indicate that physiologically, androgens affect the age-related distribution of lymphocyte T subsets and suggest that they slow down tumor growth, besides causing a direct effect, through an immunological process.
Aboudkhil
Souad
S
Ufr environnement et santé, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science and Technique, University Hassan II, Quartier Yasmina, BP 146, Mohammedia, Morocco.
Zaîd
Abdelhamid
A
Henry
Laurent
L
Bureau
Jean-Paul
JP
D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D018801:CD2 Antigens / Q000276:immunology; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology; D018414:CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D007938:Leukemia / Q000276:immunology*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D009368:Neoplasm Transplantation / Q000276:immunology; D009919:Orchiectomy; D013154:Spleen / Q000276:immunology; D016176:T-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology*; D013739:Testosterone / Q000097:blood / Q000494:pharmacology*
D018801:CD2 Antigens; D013739:Testosterone