Signal transduction in T lymphocytes and aging.

Subclasses of cells in different compartments of the immune system possesses all those attributes, that make them suitable though somewhat limited models for the investigation of cellular processes during aging. Blood samples provide relative easily high amount of cells belonging to the same subclass, all of them having complex cascade processes in their signal transduction mechanisms, therefore being excellent targets for such investigations. One such subclass comprises peripheral blood lymphocytes. The signal-transduction cascade across the plasma membrane of lymphocytes displays many of the general features enabling us to draw conclusions for other cellular signaling problems that may arise during aging in other cell types not directly related to the immune system. The advantage of this approach lies in the fact that sometimes it is extremely difficult to study signal transduction processes in certain cell types under physiological conditions. The simultaneous occurrence of physical, chemical and molecular biological regulation of the immune processes at cellular and network levels make them very good examples for focusing our interest also on similar processes in other systems and cells. The fast developing new measuring techniques and the rapidly accumulating experimental data make it relatively easy to provide interesting new aspects, and ideas in this field. Finally, the immune system itself has its great importance and after all, it has an obvious declination with aging, the immune-senescence.