Author/Authors :
Subbanna Gounder, Sellamuthu Nichi-Asia Life Science Sdn. Bhd., Selangor, Malaysia , Jeet Abdullah, Basri Johan Department of Biomedical Imaging - University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia , Binti Mohd Radzuanb, Nur Ezzati Izyan Nichi-Asia Life Science Sdn. Bhd., Selangor, Malaysia , Binti Mohd Zain, Farah Dalila Nichi-Asia Life Science Sdn. Bhd., Selangor, Malaysia , Sait, Nurhidayah Bt Mohamad Nichi-Asia Life Science Sdn. Bhd., Selangor, Malaysia , Chua, Corine Nichi-Asia Life Science Sdn. Bhd., Selangor, Malaysia , Subramani, Baskar Nichi-Asia Life Science Sdn. Bhd., Selangor, Malaysia
Abstract :
Age-associated changes in natural killer (NK) cell population, phenotype, and functions are directly attributed to the risk of severaldiseases and infections. It is predicted to be the major cause of the increase in mortality. Based on the surface density of CD56, NKcells are subdivided into two types, such as CD56brightand CD56dimcells, which represent cytokine production and cytotoxicity. Inour study, we have examined the age-associated changes in the NK cell population and their subsets at different age groups of malesand females (at a range from 41 to 80 years). We found that the total lymphocyte count significantly dropped upon aging in bothgenders. Although, the level of total immune cells also dropped on aging, and surprisingly the total NK cell population wasremarkably increased with the majority of NK cells being CD56dim. Subsequently, we evaluated the proliferation potential of NKcells and our results showed that the NK cell proliferation ability declines with age. Overall, ourfindings prove that there is anincrease in the circulating NK cell population upon aging. However, the proliferation rate upon aging declines when comparedto the young age group (<41 yrs)
