title: Study of the association with -330T/G IL-2 in a population of centenarians from centre and south Italy.
abstract: Immune response in elderly is characterised by a progressive loss of the ability to cope environmental stressors with a characteristic remodelling of cytokine network. One of the data constantly reported in literature is the decrease of IL-2 production. An IL-2 central role in the reconstitution of T cell function in vitro is largely documented. Studies on a T-->G polymorphism at -330 nt of IL-2 gene promoter region have demonstrated that T lymphocytes from 330GG homozygous subjects are able to produce in vitro higher amount of IL-2, than -330TG heterozygous or -330TT homozygous subjects. As a genetic background conditioning the maintaining of an efficient immune response would exert positive effects on healthy ageing, we have typed for 330T/G IL-2 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), 168 centenarians and 214 control subjects matched for age and ancestry from Centre and South Italy to check the 330GG genotype association to longevity. The statistical analysis doesn't show a significant difference of genotypic and allelic frequencies at -330 IL-2 T/G SNP among centenarians and controls. Comparing the two cohorts of subjects by extended Mantel Haenszel procedure a marginally significant trend for an increased -330TT genotype frequency was observed. Our data seem to be paradoxical considering the role attributed to a well-conserved T cell function in the successful ageing. On the other hand, in a recent study on a sample of Irish octogenarians a similar distribution of -330T/G genotype even was observed. These data suggest that a genetic background favouring an increased IL-2 production might be detrimental for longevity. On the other hand, an increase of IL-2 and other pro-inflammatory cytokine production characterise the Alzheimer's disease serum profile. All in all our data seem to suggest that reduction of -330G allele frequency might be protective for healthy ageing limiting cell mediated inflammation implied in age associated diseases.
authors.affiliation: Gruppo di Studio sull'Immunosenescenza, Dipartimento di Biopatologia e Metodologie Biomediche, Università di Palermo, Palermo, Italy.
authors.forename: Letizia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Scola
authors.forename: Giuseppina
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Candore
authors.forename: Giuseppina
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Colonna-Romano
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Crivello
authors.forename: Giusi I
authors.initials: GI
authors.lastname: Forte
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Paolisso
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Franceschi
authors.forename: Domenico
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lio
authors.forename: Calogero
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Caruso
mesh_terms: D000369:Aged, 80 and over / Q000502:physiology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics*; D006579:Heterozygote; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007376:Interleukin-2 / Q000235:genetics*; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic / Q000235:genetics; D013223:Statistics as Topic
chemical_list: D007376:Interleukin-2