胸腺老化和再生的研究进展

Advances on Thymic Aging and Regeneration

随着年龄的增长,胸腺逐渐萎缩退化,尤其从青春期开始,当性激素产生增加时,这种变化更为明显,从而导致新生的处女型T细胞逐渐减少,T细胞受体库的多样性受到限制,T细胞的成分偏向于以记忆性细胞为主,临床上表现为免疫应答的显著减弱和免疫重建的明显延迟。对于多种免疫源性疾病的临床治疗,胸腺再生是正在开发的新策略的基础,其中使用性激素抑制剂、生长激素(GH)、角质细胞生长因子(KGF)和白细胞介素-7(IL-7),是当前胸腺治疗的首选。此外,Ghrelin的胸腺再生作用,亦受到关注。

The thymus progressively involutes with age,particularly from puberty when sex steroids increase in production,with the gradual loss of newly produced naive T cells resulting in a restricted T cell receptor repertoire,skewed towards memory cells.This translates to a striking reduction in immune responsiveness and an obvious delay in immune reconstitution.Regeneration of the thymus is fundamental to developing new strategies for the clinical treatment of many diseases of immunological origin.Currently the use of sex steroid inhibitors,GH,KGF and IL-7 represent the first candidates in thymus-based therapies,as well as the function of Ghrelin for thymic regeneration is coming to attention.