The influence of hypercholesterolemia on some aspects of immune pattern in the elderly.
In order to investigate if age related dislipidemia was associated with immunological changes in vivo, humoral, soluble and cellular immune parameters were evaluated both in elderly with and without hypercholesterolemia and in young adults. Significantly increased IgG and IgA values were found in hypercholesterolemic aged compared to the other groups. Increased plasma neopterin levels (a pteridine generally used as a marker of macrophage activity) were reported in healthy aged subjects, whereas a lesser degree of the activation of the macrophage system was found in the hypercholesterolemic aged subjects. Compared with the young controls, an increase of interleukin 2 receptor expressing cells and of the IL-2 soluble receptors was noticeable in healthy aged subjects, whereas in hypercholesterolemic aged subjects only a minor increase of the IL-2 membrane receptor was noticed. We suggest that hypercholesterolemia may play a role in immune function in aging.
Allegra
A
A
Medical Pathology I, Department of Internal Medicine, Messina University, Messina, Italy.
Corica
F
F
Di Cesare
E
E
Giacobbe
M S
MS
Buda
G
G
Ceruso
D
D