Immunological responses in the aged with bacterial infection

Kansenshōgaku zasshi. The Journal of the Japanese Association for Infectious Diseases
M Fukayama

Abstract

The effect of bacterial infection on immunologic parameters was investigated in the elderly, with special reference to natural killer (NK) cells. The parameters studied were percentage of lymphocyte subsets, interleukin-2 concentration and NK cytotoxicity. In the bacterial infection group (n = 15), there were several changes in the immunological parameters when compared with the healthy aged control group (n = 42): decreased in the lymphocyte number, decreased percentage of CD4+ cells resulting a lower CD4+/CD8+ ratio, diminished NK activity without a change in the percentage of NKH-1+ cells, and increased CD25+ cells which consisted mainly of CD25+ NKH-1+ cells. These changes recovered in all patients examined (n = 7) following resolution of the infection. Decreased NK activity, although transient, may be related to be susceptible to infection or to be prolonged course of infectious diseases in the elderly.

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