title: Age-associated alteration in naive and memory Th17 cell response in humans.
abstract: Th17 cells produce IL-17 that plays an important role in host defense. However, little is known about whether aging affects human Th17 cells. Here we demonstrated that healthy elderly people (age ≥ 65) had a decreased frequency of IL-17-producing cells in memory CD4(+) T cells compared to healthy young people (age ≤ 40) while both groups had similar frequencies of IFN-γ-producing cells in the same memory cell subset as measured by flow cytometry. In contrast, the healthy elderly had increased differentiation of IL-17-producing effector cells but not IFN-γ-producing cells from naive CD4(+) T cells compared to the healthy young. The results of ELISA also showed similar findings with increased IL-17 production from naive CD4(+) T cells and decreased IL-17 production from memory CD4(+) T cells in the elderly compared to the young. These findings indicate that aging differentially affects naive and memory Th17 cell responses in humans.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06520, USA.
authors.forename: Jin Soo
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Won-Woo
authors.initials: WW
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Sang Hyun
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Youna
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.forename: Naeun
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Min Sun
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.forename: Seong Wook
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.forename: Insoo
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000276:immunology*; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000276:immunology; D002469:Cell Separation; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006801:Humans; D007156:Immunologic Memory / Q000276:immunology*; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D016176:T-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology*; D058504:Th17 Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology*