Frailty status in older adults is related to alterations in indoleamine 2, 3-dioxygenase 1 and guanosine triphosphate cyclohydrolase I enzymatic pathways
D Marcos-Pérez, M Sánchez-Flores, A Maseda… - Journal of the American …, 2017 - Elsevier
Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, 2017•Elsevier
Background Frailty is a multidimensional syndrome correlated to the loss of homeostasis
and increased vulnerability to stressors, which is associated with increase in the risk of
disability, comorbidity, hospitalization, and death in the elderly. It is based on the interplay of
physiological, psychological, social, and environmental factors. Objectives Because aging
involves a detrimental immune response, this work aimed to assess the possible role of
chronic low-grade immune stimulation on frailty status in the elderly. Methods Biomarkers …
and increased vulnerability to stressors, which is associated with increase in the risk of
disability, comorbidity, hospitalization, and death in the elderly. It is based on the interplay of
physiological, psychological, social, and environmental factors. Objectives Because aging
involves a detrimental immune response, this work aimed to assess the possible role of
chronic low-grade immune stimulation on frailty status in the elderly. Methods Biomarkers …
Background
Frailty is a multidimensional syndrome correlated to the loss of homeostasis and increased vulnerability to stressors, which is associated with increase in the risk of disability, comorbidity, hospitalization, and death in the elderly. It is based on the interplay of physiological, psychological, social, and environmental factors.
Objectives
Because aging involves a detrimental immune response, this work aimed to assess the possible role of chronic low-grade immune stimulation on frailty status in the elderly.
Methods
Biomarkers involved in indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase 1 and guanosine triphosphate cyclohydrolase I enzymatic pathways (namely neopterin, tryptophan, kynurenine, phenylalanine, tyrosine, and nitrite) were analyzed in a population of Spanish older adults aged 65 years and above, and their relationships with frailty status were evaluated.
Results
Significant increases in neopterin levels, kynurenine/tryptophan ratio, and phenylalanine/tyrosine ratio, and significant decreases in tryptophan, nitrite and tyrosine concentrations in frail individuals compared with nonfrail persons were obtained. Significant correlations were also observed between immune biomarkers, indicating they change in parallel, thus, pointing to interrelated causes. Besides, reference ranges for a number of immune biomarkers in the population of robust older adults were established for the first time.
Conclusions
Results obtained in the present study are consistent with the idea that frailty status in the elderly is associated with an additional degree of immune stimulation, manifested in a more intense disturbance of indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase 1 and guanosine triphosphate cyclohydrolase I pathways than in nonfrail or prefrail older adults.
Elsevier