Experimental gerontology
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Experimental gerontology · Jan 2014
Circulating mucosal-associated invariant T cell levels and their cytokine levels in healthy adults.
Mucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells have been reported to play an antimicrobial role in infectious diseases. However, little is known about age- and gender-related changes in circulating MAIT cell level and function in healthy population. The purposes of this study were to examine the level and cytokine production of circulating MAIT cells and their subsets in healthy adults and to investigate potential relationships between clinical parameters and MAIT cell levels or their subset levels. ⋯ Notably, the proportion of CD4+ MAIT cells increased with age, whereas that of CD8+ MAIT cells decreased with age. In addition, the production of interleukin (IL)-4 by MAIT cells was found to be significantly increased in elderly subjects and the ratio of interferon (IFN)-γ/IL-4 was lower as compared with young subjects, showing a Th1 to Th2 shift in cytokine profile in elderly subjects. Our data suggest that aging is associated with a reduction in circulating MAIT cells, accompanied with alterations in subset composition and cytokine profile.