Interleukin 2 receptor expression by T cells in human aging

Aged individuals have depressed cell-mediated immunity and diminished T cell proliferation to mitogenic and antigenic stimuli. Because T cell responses depend on the surface expression and normal function of interleukin 2 receptors, we measured the quantities and affinities of cell surface IL-2R and the amount of soluble IL-2R α chain (p55) release in vitro in PHA-stimulated mononuclear cells from healthy aged (≥65 years old) and young (≤39 years old) donors. At the peak of the PHA response, the fraction of cells expressing IL-2R α chain (CD25+) was lower in the aged (43% vs 56%, P = 0.033). Relative to the lower proliferation and CD25 expression, old donor cells released unexpectedly high quantities of soluble α chain into culture supernatants. However, the average affinities and the mean numbers of high- and low-affinity surface receptors per CD25+ cell were equivalent in cells from eight pairs of aged and young donors (1850 vs 1586 high affinity, and 20,655 vs 23,466 low affinity, P > 0.2 for both). The soluble IL-2R released by stimulated cells had no effect on proliferative responses, because addition of saturating doses of exogenous recombinant IL-2 did not increase cellular proliferation, and addition of soluble anchor-minus recombinant IL-2R α chain did not suppress it. These results indicate that in healthy older individuals, diminished numbers of T cells can be induced to express cell surface IL-2R following mitogenic stimulation, although aged CD25+ cells express a normal complement of IL-2R molecules. In the aged, either CD25+ cells release excessive quantities or a subset of cells synthesizes and releases soluble IL-2R α chain into the extracellular environment without expressing it on the cell surface.