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Updated: Jul 11, 2026

Quantitative Imaging of Lineage-specific Toll-like Receptor-mediated Signaling in Monocytes and Dendritic Cells from Small Samples of Human Blood
Published on: April 16, 2012
[Regulation of Bcl-2 expression in ageing T cells by CD137 and CD28]
Lin Yang1, Ming-qiu Guo, Li-yin Chen
1Guangzhou Sanitarium of PLA, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, China. youngnil@163.com
Objective:
To observe the effect of the costimulatory molecules CD137 and CD28 on Bcl-2 expression in T cells of mice with D-galactose-induced aging and natural aging.
Methods:
Seven-week-old male BALB/c mice were injected daily with D-galactose (120 mg/kg) for 5 months to induce subacute aging, and 16-month-old male BALB/c mice served as the natural aging group. The spleen T cells of were isolated from the rats and stimulated in vitro with conA+IgG, conA+CD137 mAb or conA+CD28 mAb for 48 h. Bcl-2 expression of T cells was detected by flow cytometry and semi-quantitative RT-PCR.
Results:
In the subacute aging group, Bcl-2 protein expression rate in the T cells stimulated with conA+IgG, conA+CD137 mAb and conA+CD28 mAb were (24.4-/+1.5)%, (34.4-/+2.4) %, and (45.1-/+2.7) %, which were (19.6-/+2.0) %, (26.3-/+1.9) %, and (48.5-/+2.2) % in the natural aging group, respectively. In vitro stimulation with conA+IgG, conA+CD137 mAb and conA+CD28 mAb resulted in expression rate of bcl-2 mRNA in the T cells of 0.309-/+0.039, 0.547-/+0.036, and 0.780-/+0.041 in the subacute aging group, and 0.283-/+0.038, 0.535-/+0.041, and 0.771-/+0.063 in the natural aging group, respectively.
Conclusion:
CD137 and CD28 can promote bcl-2 expression at both mRNA and protein level in T cells in aging mice, which may be one of the mechanisms through which CD137 and CD28 molecules inhibit aging T cell apoptosis and maintain their function.
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