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Thymic output, ageing and zinc

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Abstract

The role of the thymus is vital for orchestration of T-cell development and maturation. With increasing age the thymus undergoes a process of involution which results in a reduction in thymic size, function and output. Until relatively recent it was not feasible to accurately measure the magnitude of age-related loss of thymic function. With the discovery of T-cell receptor excision circles (TRECs), which are the stable by-products of the newly generated T-cells, it is now possible to quantitatively measure the extent of thymic output. This review examines the available data on immune function and zinc deficiency and places them in the context of the aims of the ZINCAGE project which include the evaluation of the role played by zinc in maintaining thymic output in healthy elderly individuals.

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Acknowledgements

Work in the authors laboratory is supported by BBSRC (grant 16279) and the EU Zincage project (contract no. FOOD-CT-2003-506850).

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  1. Department of Immunology, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, Faculty of Investigative Sciences, Chelsea and Westminster Campus, 369 Fulham Road, London, SW10 9NH, UK

    Wayne A Mitchell, Irene Meng, Stuart A Nicholson & Richard Aspinall

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  1. Wayne A Mitchell
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  2. Irene Meng
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  3. Stuart A Nicholson
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  4. Richard Aspinall
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Correspondence to Wayne A Mitchell.

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Presented at the ZincAge Conference, Madrid, February 10–13, 2006.

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Mitchell, W.A., Meng, I., Nicholson, S.A. et al. Thymic output, ageing and zinc. Biogerontology 7, 461–470 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10522-006-9061-7

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