The aged nonhematopoietic environment impairs natural killer cell maturation and function.

ABSTRACT: Natural killer (NK) cells are critical in eliminating tumors and viral infections, both of which occur at a high incidence in the elderly. Previous studies showed that aged NK cells are less cytotoxic and exhibit impaired maturation compared to young NK cells. We evaluated whether extrinsic or intrinsic factors were responsible for the impaired maturation and function of NK cells in aging and whether impaired maturation correlated with functional hyporesponsiveness. We confirmed that aged mice have a significant decrease in the frequency of mature NK cells in all lymphoid organs. Impaired NK cell maturation in aged mice correlated with a reduced capacity to eliminate allogeneic and B16 tumor targets in vivo. This could be explained by impaired degranulation, particularly by mature NK cells

SUBMITTER: Shehata HM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4364831 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature