QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE ALTERATIONS OF ACUTE-PHASE PROTEIN IN HEALTHY ELDERLY PERSONS

To assess acute-phase proteins in relation to ageing, we measured seru m concentrations of C-reactive protein (CRP), serum amyloid-A protein (SAA), alpha-1 acid glycoprotein (AGP) and glycosylation microheteroge neity. of AGP in 131 healthy elderly individuals (aged greater than or equal to 65 years) living independently in the community, and 47 heal thy younger individuals. Concentrations of CRP in the older persons (m edian = 3.0 mu g/ml) were significantly greater than in the younger gr oup (median = 0.9 mu g/ml, p = 0.0003). Concentrations of SAA and AGP were similar in the two groups, but AGP glycosylation forms with reduc ed binding affinity for concanavalin-A (changes that have been observe d in chronic inflammatory states) were increased in the elderly sample (p < 0.0001). These findings suggest that both quantitative and quali tative alterations of acute-phase proteins occur with physiological ag eing in humans.