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Dehydroepiandrosterone Decline Reflects Immune System Activation
A DGReview of :"Dehydroepiandrosterone, ageing and immune activation"
Experimental Gerontology
12/13/2001
By Mark Greener
The age-related decline in dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) levels might reflect increased activation of the immune system.
Levels of DHEA decline with advancing age. This decline appears to be associated with several conditions prevalent among the elderly who seem vulnerable to a number of immune system abnormalities. For example, levels of neopterin, a marker for cell-mediated immunity, increase with advancing age.
Monocytes and macrophages release neopterin following stimulation with interferon-g. A growing body of evidence links increased neopterin levels with several age-related diseases including autoimmune conditions, cancer, heart and kidney failure, coronary artery disease and myocardial infarctions.
Against this background, researchers from the Leopold-Franzens University and Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for AIDS Research, Innsbruck, Austria, examined the relationship between serum levels of DHEA and neopterin. The researchers enrolled 281 healthy outpatients, attending for routine check-ups.
Ten percent of subjects showed raised concentrations of neopterin. Moreover, 0.4 percent showed increased levels of DHEA sulphate. DHEA concentrations showed a strong inverse correlation with serum neopterin levels.
The authors concluded that the study suggests that the age-related decline in DHEA concentrations reflects increased immune system activation. They speculated that the increased oxidative stress arising because of immune system activation attenuates DHEA synthesis.
Experimental Gerontology 2001;36:1739-1747.
"Dehydroepiandrosterone, ageing and immune activation"
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