Aging: the cellular immune response against autologous and foreign antigens is affected before the humoral response

BELKYS MALETTO, A. GRUPPI, MC. PISTORESI-PALENCIA

IMMUNOLOGY LETTERS

Elsevier Science B.V.

Año: 1994 vol. 40 p. 243 - 243

0165-2478

p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify">In this study we examined the auto- and hetero-immune response in mice of different ages immunized with antigens of Trypanosoma cruzi (S-105). We observed that 20-day- and 12-monthold mice showed decreased response to foreign antigens and increased response to autoantigens, compared with 3-month-old immunized mice. The 6-month-old mice showed hetero- and autoimmune cellular responses similar to those of 12-month-old animals; however, the humoral response was similar to that of 3-month-old animals against either antigen, suggesting that the compartments of the immune response are altered at different moments in the same individual. Immune response against a foreign antigen is correlated with the presence of cellular infiltrate in skeletal and heart muscle whereas no modifications in the tissue are noticed in animals with an autoimmune response. Also, we observed from cell transfer ex