Macrophage hypo-responsiveness to interferon-gamma in aged mice is associated with impaired signaling through Jak-STAT.

Since macrophages (Mphis) are a first line of defense against pathogens, and are involved in both innate and adaptive immunity, understanding the impact of aging on Mphi function is important. In the past studies, we and others have shown that aging decreases Mphi responsiveness to classical activating signals (e.g. IFN-gamma and lipopolysaccharide, LPS). In this study, we examined the impact of aging on Mphi signaling through the IFN-gamma receptor pathway. Mphis from male Balb/c mice aged 2 (young) and 18-24 (old) months were purified and then stimulated with IFN-gamma. Western blotting revealed a significant reduction ( approximately 50%) in IFN-gamma-stimulated tyrosine phosphorylation of signal transducer and activator of transcription-1 (STAT-1) alpha and beta in Mphis from aged, when compared with young mice. This reduction in phospho-STAT-1 was associated with a significant constitutive reduction ( approximately 80%) in total STAT-1alpha protein and a complete inhibition of STAT-1 gene expression in response to IFN-gamma in old compared to young mice. These data may, in part, explain why classical Mphi responses like reactive nitrogen and oxygen species generation, tumor killing and microbicidal activity are lower in Mphis from aged subjects. We conclude that peritoneal Mphis from aged mice have an intrinsic defect in Jak-STAT signaling which prevents them from fully responding to IFN-gamma.