Korean J Lab Med.  2005 Aug;25(4):267-272.

Decrease of Double Negative T Cells with Aging: Analysis of alpha beta TCR and gamma delta TCR

• Won DI
• Kim YK
• Suh JS

Abstract

BACKGROUND
In the previous study, we reported a decrease of CD4-CD8- double negative T (DNT) cells with aging. In this study we investigated the precise changes of two subsets of DN T cells, alpha beta TCR DN T cells and gamma delta TCR DN T cells, with aging. METHODS: We analyzed the T cell subsets by 3 color flow cytometry in a healthy young group (age 26.9+/-2.5, N=15), a healthy old group (age 67.7+/-3.4, N=15) and an old group with aging-associated diseases.
RESULTS
The percentage of total DN T cells, alpha beta TCR DN T cells and gamma delta TCR DN T cells in total T cells, respectively, was 7.4+/-4.9%, 3.9+/-2.9% and 3.5+/-2.5% in a healthy young group and 3.5+/- 2.2%, 1.8+/-1.6%, 1.6+/-1.5% in a healthy old group. Both subsets decreased with aging significantly both P<0.05). Between a healthy old group and an old group with aging-associated diseases, we could not detect the significant difference of the percentage of either subset.
CONCLUSIONS
This study confirmed our previous report. Furthermore, we observed that both subsets of DN T cells decreased in detail. More studies are needed to clarify the association between these findings and the aging-associated diseases.

Keyword

Aging; Double negative (DN) T cells; alpha beta TCR DN T cells; gamma delta TCR DN T cells

MeSH Terms

Aging*
Flow Cytometry
T-Lymphocyte Subsets
T-Lymphocytes*