Do natural antibodies compensate for humoral immunosenescence in tropical pythons?
Ujvari, Beata and Madsen, Thomas 2011, Do natural antibodies compensate for humoral immunosenescence in tropical pythons?, Functional ecology, vol. 25, no. 4, pp. 813-817, doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2435.2011.01860.x.
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Title
Do natural antibodies compensate for humoral immunosenescence in tropical pythons?
Ageing is frequently claimed to result in an age-dependent deterioration in immune function. Our results, however, based on 30 known-aged water pythons (Liasis fuscus; age ranging from <1 to 18 years) immunized with keyhole limpet haemocyanin (KLH), demonstrate that age-related changes in immune function may follow different and opposing pathways. Python-specific humoral antibodies (SpAb) showed an age-dependent decrease in cross-reactivity to KLH, whereas natural antibodies (NAbs) ability to bind to this antigen increased with age. Notably, when humoral SpAb and NAb titres were combined, no effect of age was detected in antibody cross-reactivity, strongly suggesting that NAbs may play a crucial role in maintaining immunocompetence during the ageing process.
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eng
DOI
10.1111/j.1365-2435.2011.01860.x
Field of Research
069999 Biological Sciences not elsewhere classified
Socio Economic Objective
970106 Expanding Knowledge in the Biological Sciences
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