@Article{,
AUTHOR = {Florian Hoffmann, Michael H. Albert, Stephan Arenz, Christoph Bidlingmaier, Nadine Berkowicz, Sabine Sedlaczek, Holger Till, Ingo Pawlita, Ellen D. Renner, Michael Weiss, Bernd H. Belohradsky},
TITLE = {Intracellular T-cell cytokine levels are age-dependent in healthy children and adults},
JOURNAL = {European Cytokine Network},
VOLUME = {16},
YEAR = {2005},
NUMBER = {4},
PAGES = {283--288},
URL = {http://www.techscience.com/ECN/v16n4/66205},
ISSN = {1952-4005},
ABSTRACT = {Intracellular detection of cytokines via fluorescent antibody staining and flow cytometry has quickly
become a standard method in experimental immunology. However, in pediatrics most studies have been hampered
by the exclusion of healthy control individuals or have been skewed by neglecting to observe age-dependent
differences in cytokine production. We therefore intended to establish normal values for different age groups and
to describe the age-dependent development of cytokine profiles. Whole blood from 46 healthy children and 33
adults was analyzed by flow cytometry after stimulation with PMA, ionomycin and Mmonensin, and staining with
anti-cytokine and surface antibodies. In the pediatric population, we found a significant positive correlation
between age and intracellular cytokine levels of IFN-γ, IL-2, IL-4 and TNF-α in CD4+ cells, as well as for IFN-γ
and TNF-α in CD8<sup>+</sup> cells. In adulthood, no such striking trend could be detected, but significant correlation was
found for IL-10 in CD4<sup>+</sup> cells and IFN-γ in CD8+ cells as well as for TNF-α in both cell subgroups. We present
here the first systematic analysis of intracellular cytokine production in normal, healthy children between the ages
of 0 to 18 years compared to results in adults. These data may provide a reference basis for the study of cytokine
secretion patterns, and they also demonstrate a significant maturation of the T-cell cytokine production capacity
from birth to adulthood.},
DOI = {}
}