title: Chronic lung inflammation in aging mice.
abstract: To determine whether aging is associated with a pro-inflammatory shift in the lung, inflammation and inflammation-related gene expression in the lungs of 12-week-old and 24-month-old Balb/c mice were studied. cDNA microarray and quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction analyses showed that eight inflammation-related genes, including CD20, Burkitt lymphoma receptor 1, CXCR-3, provirus integration site for Moloney murine leukemia virus-2, CD72, IL-8RB, C-Fgr, and CD8beta, were upregulated in the aged mice. Immunohistochemistry showed that the lungs of the aged mice contained increased numbers of CD4 cells, CD8 cells, B cells and macrophages. These results suggest that a pro-inflammatory shift occurs in the lungs of mice with aging.
authors.affiliation: First Department of Medicine, Tokyo Women's Medical University, 8-1 Kawada-cho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-8666, Japan. kaoshiba@chi.twmu.ac.jp
authors.forename: Kazutetsu
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Aoshiba
authors.forename: Atsushi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nagai
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005260:Female; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D011014:Pneumonia / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology*