title: Lymphocyte subset patterns and cytokine production in Alzheimer's disease patients.
abstract: To investigate the signs of inflammatory processes in Alzheimer's disease (AD), we examined peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from 51 AD patients (29 with mild and 22 with moderately severe dementia) and 51 age-matched healthy controls (HC), using flow cytometry to analyse the absolute number and the percentage of T, B and NK cells. We also studied the surface expression of CD25, CD28, CD57, CD71, CD45RA and CD45RO markers on cells CD4+ and CD8+. In 30 AD patients and 20 HC the production of IL-2, IFN-gamma, IL-10 and TNF-alpha by PBMC after stimulation with [25-35], [1-40] and [1-16] beta-amyloid (betaA) fragments was also evaluated. A significant decrease in circulating B and CD8+CD28- cells, as well as an increase in CD8+ cells expressing CD71+ and CD28+, was observed in AD patients. A significant decrease in IL-10 production was also found after stimulation of PMBC with betaA [1-40]. The decreased IL-10 production was not related to disease severity. The observed imbalance of immune peripheral cell subpopulations and decreased IL-10 production point to a reduction of suppressor cell function in AD patients.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Molecular Medicine and Biotechnologies, Don Gnocchi Foundation, ONLUS, IRCCS, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Livianna
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Speciale
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Calabrese
authors.forename: Marina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Saresella
authors.forename: Carmine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tinelli
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mariani
authors.forename: Lara
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sanvito
authors.forename: Renato
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Longhi
authors.forename: Pasquale
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ferrante
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D015703:Antigens, CD / Q000378:metabolism; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002452:Cell Count / Q000379:methods; D016207:Cytokines / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
chemical_list: D015703:Antigens, CD; D016207:Cytokines