[Preliminary study on change of interleukin-2 and its receptor in the elderly]

We measured the interleukin-2 (IL-2) and soluble interleukin-2 receptor (SIL-2R) in 86 senile patients (aged 71.5 +/- 8.45) with various diseases in order to evaluate the cell immune function in the elderly. The results showed that serum IL-2 activity was significantly lower in the senile group than in the middle-aged and young group, but SIL-2R was significantly higher in the senile group, predominantly in the cases of tumor and diabetes. It was also noted that lowered IL-2 activity and abnormal elevation of SIL-2R in late stage and diffused metastatic tumour patients were more significant than in other groups of senile patients. The magnitude of decrease in IL-2 activity and increase in SIL-2R correlated well with the severity of spread of tumour, suggesting that the higher the SIL-2R level goes, the worse the prognosis may be.