Healthy Ageing Reflected in Innate and Adaptive Immune Parameters

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of the paper is to establish and quantify the relation between healthy ageing and the innate and adaptive immune parameters as indicators of age-related diseases.

Patients

In order to observe the immunological changes that occur according to age, several humoral and cellular immune parameters were investigated for 288 healthy donors (30–80 years). Subjects’ selection was done using clinical, biochemical and immunological parameters of inclusion/exclusion criteria from SENIEUR protocol.

Results

Age-related changes were observed for both humoral and cellular immune parameters. Lymphocyte immunophenotyping revealed several significant differences in the distribution of cells, both intra- and inter-age groups, namely decreased values of T-CD3⁺, T-CD8⁺ and NK cells, and elevated values for T-CD4⁺, T-CD4⁺/T-CD8⁺ ratio and B cells. The percentages of unstimulated neutrophils that show basal oxidative activity and the intensity of this activity had an increasing tendency age-related. The percentage of N-Formyl-Methionyl-Leucyl-Phenylalanine stimulated neutrophils clearly decreases with age, and is associated with an increasing intensity of oxidative activity. Our data also have shown an increased percentage of oxidative neutrophils after phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate stimulation and an elevated oxidative activity with age.

Conclusion

Overall healthy ageing is governed by some immune-related deregulations that account for immune exhaustion due to numerous developed immune processes during a life-time and the age-related diseases.

Keywords:

• age-related
• lymphocyte immunophenotyping
• neutrophils
• oxidative activity

Data Sharing Statement

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the present study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Ethics Statement

The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki (1964) and with approval of the Local Ethics Committee of Ana Aslan Institute for Geriatrics and Gerontology, Bucharest and Victor Babes National Institute of Pathology, Bucharest (25/2017). Informed consent was obtained for all the involved participants.

Acknowledgments

The presented study will be integrated in the original part of the PhD thesis of first author and PhD student ANM. The authors would like to thank colleagues from Ana Aslan Institute for Geriatrics and Gerontology and from National Institute of Haematology and Transfusion, Bucharest, Romania for thoroughly supplying the samples and Dr Cornel Ursaciuc for critical review of the paper.

Author Contributions

All authors made a significant contribution to the work reported, whether that is in the conception, study design, execution, acquisition of data, analysis and interpretation, or in all these areas; took part in drafting, revising or critically reviewing the article; gave final approval of the version to be published; have agreed on the journal to which the article has been submitted; and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Disclosure

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Additional information

Funding

The work and open access fee was supported by a grant of the Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitization, CCCDI- UEFISCDI, project number [PN-III-P2-2.1-PED-2021-2243], within PNCDI III. This study was also supported by the Core Program, implemented with the support of NASR, projects [PN19.29.01.01], [PN19.29.02.03], [PN-III-P4-PCE-2021-0549].