Introduction The number of aging cancer patients has increased continuously and will do so further in the future. The immune system of elderly people experiences critical changes over the time. Therefore, tumor-induced changes in the immune system are believed to differ in young and elderly cancer patients as well. Methods The effect of aging on the immune system was measured in peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) of healthy volunteers (n = 48, 21-84 yrs.) divided into three different age groups. Seventy years was set as a cut-off for defining subjects as elderly. Results were compared to two groups of adult cancer patients, which donated PBL and tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL): young cancer patients (40-69 yrs.; blood: n = 13; TIL: n = 17) and elderly cancer patients (70-90 yrs.; blood: n = 20; TIL: n = 15) with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Frequencies and phenotypes of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells as well as regulatory T cells (Treg) were assessed by flow cytometry. Results We observed lower frequencies of CD8+ cytotoxic T cells during aging in both groups. Frequencies of tumor infiltrating regulatory T cells were significantly higher than in the peripheral blood but showed a significant decline in older tumor patients. With increasing age, expression of immunosuppressive CD73 and CCR7 was lower and expression of PD1 elevated on peripheral T cells in healthy volunteers and tumor patients. Conclusion Immunosenescence takes place in healthy donors and cancer patients. Our results suggest that in elderly tumor patients, the immune system is impaired and the tumor-induced immune escape is less pronounced. The increased expression of PD1 implies the potential for effective immunotherapies in elderly, as treatment with checkpoint inhibitors could be more beneficial for elderly HNSCC patients.

中文翻译：

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头颈部鳞状细胞癌患者 T 淋巴细胞的年龄相关变化。

引言 老年癌症患者的数量不断增加，并且在未来还会进一步增加。随着时间的推移，老年人的免疫系统会发生重大变化。因此，据信肿瘤引起的免疫系统变化在年轻和老年癌症患者中也存在差异。方法 对分为三个不同年龄组的健康志愿者（n = 48、21-84 岁）的外周血淋巴细胞 (PBL) 测量衰老对免疫系统的影响。七十年被设定为将受试者定义为老年人的分界线。将结果与捐赠 PBL 和肿瘤浸润淋巴细胞 (TIL) 的两组成年癌症患者进行比较：年轻癌症患者（40-69 岁；血液：n = 13；TIL：n = 17）和老年癌症患者（70 -90 岁；血液：n = 20；TIL：n = 15) 患有头颈部鳞状细胞癌 (HNSCC)。通过流式细胞术评估 CD4+ 和 CD8+ T 细胞以及调节性 T 细胞 (Treg) 的频率和表型。结果 我们观察到两组在衰老过程中 CD8+ 细胞毒性 T 细胞的频率较低。肿瘤浸润调节性 T 细胞的频率显着高于外周血，但在老年肿瘤患者中显示出显着下降。随着年龄的增长，健康志愿者和肿瘤患者外周 T 细胞中免疫抑制性 CD73 和 CCR7 的表达降低，PD1 的表达升高。结论 免疫衰老发生在健康供体和癌症患者身上。我们的研究结果表明，在老年肿瘤患者中，免疫系统受损，肿瘤诱导的免疫逃逸不太明显。