Differences in Infant and Adult T Cells (2011)
Undergraduates: Kalyan Rao, Myra Dela Pena
Faculty Advisor: Kristina Abel
Department: Business Administration
The human infant immune response is generally of lower magnitude and different quality than the adult response. The goal of this study was to examine cytokine signaling differences between infants and adults. This study examined Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription (STAT) proteins, which play an important role in the induction and regulation of cytokines. We stimulated human adult and cord blood with recombinant interleukin-2 (IL-2), interferon gamma (IFN-?), and interleukin-6 (IL-6) to provoke immune response and measured the changes in levels of phosphorylation of STAT5, STAT1, and STAT3 proteins. Cells were analyzed using multiparameter flow cytometry. The results showed that the phosphorylation of STAT3, STAT5, and STAT1 was generally higher in treated adult whole blood than in treated infant whole cord blood for both CD4+ and CD8+ cells and for all subpopulations. The results of this project provide some insight into possible mechanisms contributing to reduced immune responsiveness in infant compared to adult T cells.