Age-related defects in TLR2 signaling diminish the cytokine response by alveolar macrophages during murine pneumococcal pneumonia.

ABSTRACT: Alveolar macrophages (AMs) are the first immune cells to respond to an invading pathogen and coordinate the inflammatory response within the lungs. Studies suggest that macrophages exhibit age-related deficiencies in Toll-like receptor (TLR) function; however, the impact of this dysfunction during pneumonia, the leading cause of infectious death in the elderly, and the underlying mechanisms responsible remain unclear. We examined disease severity in young, mature, and aged BALB/cBy mice following intratracheal infection with the Gram-positive bacteria Streptococcus pneumoniae (Spn). Both mature and aged mice failed to clear bacteria and as a result had increased mortality, tissue damage and vascular leakage. Early production of TNFα, IL-1β, and IL-6 during pneumonia declined with age and w

SUBMITTER: Boyd AR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3368096 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature