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Immune Responses against Allogeneic and Syngeneic Tumors in Aged C57BL/6 Mice
Author(s) -
Win Sanda,
Uenaka Akiko,
Nakayama Eiichi
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
microbiology and immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.664
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1348-0421
pISSN - 0385-5600
DOI - 10.1111/j.1348-0421.2002.tb02728.x
Subject(s) - cytotoxic t cell , ctl* , biology , cd8 , elispot , immune system , immunology , spleen , antigen , interleukin 2 , il 2 receptor , t lymphocyte , t cell , in vitro , biochemistry
Aged C57BL/6 (B6) mice could reject allogeneic BALB/c RL male 1 tumor as efficiently as young B6 mice. However, in vitro analysis showed impaired generation of cytotoxic T cell response in aged B6 mice against allogeneic tumor. The reaction could be augmented by the addition of recombinant interleukin‐2 (rIL‐2). Enzyme‐linked immunospots (ELISPOT) produced by CD8 + T cells purified from spleen cells showed no reduction in aged mice. The findings suggested that the number of CD8 + T cells capable of reacting against allogeneic H‐2 antigens was similar in young and aged B6 mice. Low cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) responsiveness in aged B6 mice appeared to have resulted from low responsiveness of CD4 + T cells producing IL‐2. Although CTL generation was apparently impaired, strong multiple antigenicity of allogeneic tumor evoked a rejection response in aged B6 mice. On the other hand, no rejection response was observed against syngeneic EL4 tumor in aged B6 mice even after depletion of CD4CD25 + immunoregulatory cells. Depletion of CD4 + CD25 + cells caused rejection of EL4 tumor in young B6 mice. The findings suggested that aged B6 mice were incapable of inducing effector cells against weak tumor antigens. Only marginal CTL response and small number of ELISPOTs were generated in young but not aged B6 mice against EL4. Addition of rIL‐2 to the culture augmented EL4 killing and ELISPOTs in spleen cells from young and aged B6 mice.