Determination of aging phenotype based on the changes in spontaneous and induced interleukin-6 and interleukin-10 production in vitro

During the aging the immune system alterations are accompanied by developing the systemic, sterile inflammation: inflammaging. Successful and pathological aging phenotypes are distinguished. Inflammaging severity depends largely on the ratio of pro- and anti-inflammatory mediators, especially IL6 and IL10. The study aimed to conduct the analysis of IL6 and IL10 production in the cultures of the patients’ peripheral blood mononuclear cells (MNCs) as a possible approach to determining the aging phenotype. The data of elderly patients (n = 80), senile patients (n = 100), and centenarians (n = 30) were included in the study. Among those the groups were allocated with the successful and pathological phenotypes, along with the comparison group (young adults). The stimulation coefficient (SC) was assessed based on the ratio of the levels of stimulated and induced cytokine production. For the successful phenotype in elderly and senile individuals, as well as centenarians, a decrease in the IL6 SC to 5.3 [2.2–14.3] (p < 0.01), 5.3 [3.01–7.8] (p < 0.01), 6.5 [5.2–14.1], respectively, was reported, against the comparison group, where the value was 17.6 [13.7–31.1] (p < 0.05). With the pathological phenotype, the IL6 SC values of the studied age group showed no significant differences from that of the comparison group. For the successful phenotype in senile individuals, the increase in the IL10 SC to 6.9 [3.8–13.8] relative to the values of the group with the pathological phenotype — 3.3 [2.0–5.9] (p < 0.01) and the comparison group — 2.0 [1.9–2.2] (p < 0.001) was reported. In the group of centenarians with the pathological phenotype, there was a significant increase in the IL10 SC (11.2 [5.4–18.1] vs 2.7 [2.3–6.5] p < 0.001) in the group with successful aging, which can indicate the pronounced compensatory anti-inflammatory reserve being a factor of survival and long life in the context of the presence of a large number of age-related disorders in this group.