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IL-4-Producing CD8⁺ T Cells with a CD62L^++(bright) Phenotype Accumulate in a Subgroup of Older Adults and Are Associated with the Maintenance of Intact Humoral Immunity in Old Age¹

Institute for Biomedical Aging Research, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Innsbruck, Austria

An increased production of proinflammatory cytokines occurs in a high percentage of elderly persons and is associated with an impaired humoral immune response. However, high IL-4 production has also been observed in old age. We now demonstrate an IL-4-producing subpopulation of CD8⁺ T cells in a subgroup of healthy older adults. This T cell subset is substantial in size and has a characteristic phenotype expressing CD45RO, CD28, CD62L, and CD25. IL-4-producing CD8⁺ T cells produce large amounts of IL-2 but not IFN- or perforin, and these cells do not have a regulatory suppressive effect on other T cells. In vivo IL-4-producing CD8⁺ T cells can be stably detected over a year. When put into culture they also have a stable cytokine production pattern but fail to produce perforin even in the presence of IL-12. This special T cell type does not occur in persons under the age of 40, but is present in 36% of the persons >60 years of age. In this age group, IL-4-producing CD8⁺ T cells are more frequent in persons who are still capable of raising a humoral immune response following immunization than in others who fail to produce protective Abs after vaccination. Our results suggest that CD8⁺ T cells with a CD62L^++(bright) phenotype accumulate in a subgroup of older adults. Due to their phenotype that enables them to migrate into lymphoid tissues and to their capacity to produce IL-4, these cells may counterbalance the overproduction of proinflammatory cytokines in old age.

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