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Molecular aspects of normal human humoral immune senescence

Reference	SAG10045
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Professor Deborah Dunn-Walters
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors	Professor Jo Spencer
Institution	King's College London
Department	GKT School of Medicine
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	144,696
Status	Completed
Type	Research Grant
Start date	17/08/1998
End date	17/08/2001
Duration	36 months

Abstract

Many of the health problems associated with ageing have been attributed to immune senescence. Molecular changes affecting antibodies have been documented in old mice. There are also some contradictory observations, possibly due to differences between the systematic and mucosal immune systems. There are few reports on the molecular changes affecting humoral immunity in man. If the changes are the same as in mice, then passive immunisation may be more effective than vaccination in the elderly. I have developed techniques enabling the study of molecular changes in B cells of different human tissues. We have good access to both fresh and archival blocks of human tissue. Preliminary data on younger patients suggests that there are age and tissue-related changes in man. We plan to look at the molecular changes in B cells from the gut and the spleen in elderly patients.

Summary

unavailable

Committee	Closed Committee - Genes & Developmental Biology (GDB)
Research Topics	X – not assigned to a current Research Topic
Research Priority	X – Research Priority information not available
Research Initiative	Initiative on Science of Ageing (SAG) [1998]
Funding Scheme	X – not Funded via a specific Funding Scheme

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