Admission criteria for immunogerontological studies in man: the SENIEUR protocol

Immunogerontological studies in man have often led to conflicting results. One of the main reasons is the selection of the subjects to be studied. Admission criteria such as "apparently healthy" or "without overt disease" seem insufficient to exclude underlying disease which might influence the immune system and thereby the results. In an attempt to solve this problem, the SENIEUR protocol described in this paper was developed by a working party in the framework of the EURAGE Concerted Action Programme on Ageing of the European Community. This protocol establishes strict admission criteria for immunogerontological studies in man based on clinical information and laboratory data, and it sets limits to pharmacological interference. The use of this protocol will lead to standardization between centers and also to a closer study of the influence of age as such on the immune system. These findings in the immunologically "optimally aged" can also serve as reference values for immunogerontological studies in subjects who do not meet the SENIEUR criteria. In this way the use of this protocol can contribute to the dissection of the influence of disease versus ageing on the immune system.