Phenotypio analysis of human NK cells in healthy elderly

摘要

Natural killer cells (NK) are bone marrow-derived lymphocytes capable of killing tumours or virally infected cells without previous stimulation. There are controversial results on the effect of ageing on NK cell number and function. Whereas healthy elderly strictly selected according with the SENIEUR criteria or very healthy centenarians have preserved or even increased NK cell numbers and preserved cytotoxic function, decreased NK cell cytotoxicity is observed in studies where the age and health status of the donors has not been so strictly selected. In this work we characterize the effect of age on the expression of a panel of activating and inhibitory receptors on NK cells from healthy elderly donors. The results obtained show a slight increase in the percentage of NK cells in healthy elderly donors. The expression of activating (CD244, NKG2D and CD94/NKG2C) and inhibitory receptors (KIR2DL1, KIR2DL2, ILT-2 and CD94/NKG2A) is not significantly affected by age.