G. Pritchett et al., TUMOR-NECROSIS-FACTOR, NATURAL-KILLER ACTIVITY AND OTHER MEASURES OF IMMUNE FUNCTION AND INFLAMMATION IN ELDERLY MEN WITH HEART-FAILURE, Gerontology, 41(1), 1995, pp. 45-56
Objective: To determine the status of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and
other measures of immunity and inflammation in chronic heart failure (
CHF) in the elderly. Design: Comparative survey study of subjects with
heart failure and age-matched controls. Settings. University affiliat
ed tertiary care VA Medical Center, Heart Failure Clinic. Patients: Tw
enty men with New York Class II and III heart failure and 17 age-match
ed controls. Interventions: None. Main outcome measure: Levels of lymp
hocyte mitogenesis, TNF, natural killer (NK) cell activity, elastase-a
lpha(1)-antitrypsin (E/alpha) and crosslinked fibrin D-dimers (XDP). R
esults: TNF levels (p = 0.27), NK activity (p = 0.56), and lymphocyte
mitogenesis (p = 0.67) were similar in patients and controls. E/alpha
levels were somewhat lower in CHF patients (p = 0.05) and XDP were sim
ilar (p = 0.59). However, TNF levels were significantly related to NK
activity and to E/alpha activity in elderly men with heart failure but
not controls. XDP were positively related to NK in heart failure pati
ents but not controls. Conclusion: TNF and other measures of immune fu
nction and inflammation do not appear to be significantly elevated in
elderly patients with heart failure of moderate severity. However, sig
nificant relationships exist between TNF, NK activity, XDP and E/alpha
in the heart failure patients only, suggesting that immune activation
and subclinical inflammation does exist in these patients.