The immune functions in aged cynomolgus monkeys as an experimental model.

随着老年人口的增加，需要对老年人的免疫状况进行研究，以预防老年人的疾病。我们研究了老年食蟹猴的免疫系统，以建立一个模型来阐明人类免疫功能的年龄相关变化。在2年的时间里，我们得到了如下的结果，我们认为猕猴是研究衰老影响的非常有用的模型。1)由于CH50值和抗a、抗b活性水平在5 ~ 10岁时达到峰值，随后下降，因此20岁以上的猴子视为老年猴子。2)食蟹猴外周血CD4+、CD8+细胞亚群标记随年龄增长而升高，B细胞和NK细胞亚群标记随年龄增长而降低。3)有趣的是，猕猴外周血中CD4+/CD8+细胞的比例相对较高，且随着年龄的增长而增加，这表明食蟹猴是研究胸腺功能衰老和T细胞分化机制的有用模型。4)与幼猴相比，老龄猴自身抗体水平较高，T细胞功能，尤其是IL-2的表达量和IL-2R的表达活性明显降低。巨噬细胞NK活性和吞噬活性不随衰老而变化。5)获得了识别猴B细胞的抗人B细胞单克隆抗体和多克隆抗体。6)建立了猴B细胞成母活性的检测体系。

According to the increase in population of aged people, the immune status of aged humans is demanded to be studied to prevent them from disease's. We have been studied the immune system in aged cynomolgus monkeys to establish a model for clarifying the age-related change of immune functions in humans. The results obtained in 2 years were as follows and the cymonolgus monkey were considered to be very useful model to study the effect of aging.1)Since CH50 value and anti-A and anti-B activity levels reached the peak at 5 to 10 years of age and declined, the monkeys older than 20 years old are considered as aged monkeys.2)The subset labels of pant CD4+, CD8+ cells in cynomolgus monkeys increased according to aging although the ones of B and NK cells decreased.3)Interestingly relative high percentage of CD4+/CD8+ cells are observed in monkey peripheral blood in contrast to human and it increased with aging which suggest that the cynomolgus monkey is useful model to study the age-associated decline in thymus function and the differential mechanism of T cells.4)Comparing with young monkeys, autoantibodies are higher and T cell functions especially the productivity of IL-2 and the activity of IL-2R expression were considerably lower in aged monkeys. The NK activity and the phagocytic activity of macrophages were not changed with aging.5)Antibodies to recognize monkey B cells were obtained in anti-human B cells monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies.6)The assay system to study monkey B cell blastogenic activity was established.