NUTRITIONAL INFLUENCES ON IMMUNE-RESPONSE IN HEALTHY AGED PERSONS

Healthy elderly (80 +/- 5 years) with different nutritional status wer e compared to young healthy adults (25 +/- 5 years) to quantify the re lative influences of aging and nutrition on immune response. Aged pers ons, without alteration of their nutritional status, had lower CD3 +, CD8 +, and CD45RA + as well as higher CD2 + CD3 -, CD2 + CD4 - CD8 -, and CD45RO + T cell subsets and IL-6 release than their younger counte rparts. T cell proliferation and IL-2 production were comparable in th e two healthiest groups. Aged subjects with low nutritional status exp ressed similar but more marked changes in immune response while nutrit ional status did not influence the immune response in young subjects. Furthermore, lower nutritional status was associated with lower CD4 counts and lower T cell functions in aged persons. These results indic ate that the influences of aging and undernutrition in humans are cumu lative and suggest that some changes in immune response that have been attributed to aging may, in fact, be related to nutrition and not agi ng. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.