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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Aging
Sec. Aging and the Immune System
Volume 5 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fragi.2024.1511370

Age-associated alterations in immune and inflammatory responses in captive olive baboons (Papio anubis)

Provisionally accepted
Michele M Mulholland Michele M Mulholland Bharti P Nehete Bharti P Nehete Ashley DeLise Ashley DeLise Angela M Achorn Angela M Achorn Lisa M Pytka Lisa M Pytka Pramod N Nehete Pramod N Nehete *
  • Michale E. Keeling Center for Comparative Medicine and Research, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Bastrop, Louisiana, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Advanced age is a primary risk factor for many chronic diseases and conditions; however, age-related immune dysregulation is not well understood. Animal models, particularly those that resemble human age-related physiological changes, are needed to better understand immunosenescence and to improve health outcomes. Here, we explore the utility of the olive baboon (Papio anubis) in studying age-related changes to the immune system and understanding mechanisms of immunosenescence. Our results reveal significant age effects on numerous immune and inflammatory responses. For instance, young monkeys exhibited significantly more monocytes than adults. We found a significant effect on INFγ expression when stimulated with both Concanavalin A (Con A) and Pokeweed mitogen (PWM). Specifically, for INFγ expression after Con A stimulation, INFγ expression with PWM stimulation, TNFα expression with LPS stimulation, and TNFα expression with PWM stimulation, young monkeys exhibited significantly fewer counts compared to adult or old monkeys. Furthermore, bivariate correlations revealed significant positive linear relationships between age and INFγ with Con A, TNFα with Con A, TNFα with LPS, and TNFα with PWM stimulations. These findings suggest that the olive baboon is a suitable model for biogerontology research, immune senescence, and development of vaccines. Though there are phenotypic and functional similarities between baboons and humans, specific differences exist in immune cell expression and immune function of lymphocytes that should be considered for better experimental outcomes in the development of therapeutics and restoring innate and adaptive immune function in aged individuals. Baboons serve as a nonhuman primate model of many human-related conditions and diseases. Olive baboons (Papio anubis), in particular, have served as models of diabetes, cardiac diseases, respiratory diseases, xenotransplantation, reproductive and neonatal physiology, as well as infectious disease, immunology, and vaccine

    Keywords: Aging, baboon, Cellular Immune Response, FLUROSPOT, Elispot, proliferation, Cytokines

    Received: 14 Oct 2024; Accepted: 16 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 M Mulholland, Nehete, DeLise, Achorn, Pytka and Nehete. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Pramod N Nehete, Michale E. Keeling Center for Comparative Medicine and Research, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Bastrop, TX 78602, Louisiana, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.