The effect of age on the transendothelial migration of human T lymphocytes.

Since the migration of immunologically active cells into perivascular tissue is an important step in acute and chronic inflammation, the authors studied the possible influence of age on the transendothelial migration of T cells in an in vitro model. After incubation on collagen gels coated with human endothelial cells, three populations of T cells of elderly and young subjects were harvested: non-adherent (NAD), bound (BND) and migrated (MIG) cells. The percentages of the BND and MIG fractions were similar in the young and elderly groups. Phenotypic analysis showed that in the starting population of the elderly subjects T-cell subpopulations that have an increased capacity of transendothelial migration (e.g., CD4+ memory cells, CD8+/CD57+ cells) were enriched: nevertheless ageing was not associated with an increase in the transendothelial migration of T cells.