Vitamin E Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Vitamin E, including details on benefits, dosage, supplements, antioxidants.

Vitamin E and immune response in the aged: molecular mechanisms and clinical implications.

Meydani SN, Han SN, Wu D

Nutritional Immunology Laboratory, Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University, Boston, MA 02111, USA. simin.meydani@tufts.edu

Nutritional status has been indicated as a contributing factor to age-related dysregulation of the immune response. Vitamin E, a lipid-soluble antioxidant vitamin, is important for normal function of the immune cells. The elderly are at a greater risk for vitamin E intake that is lower than recommended levels. Vitamin E supplementation above currently recommended levels has been shown to improve immune functions in the aged including delayed-type hypersensitivity skin response and antibody production in response to vaccination, which was shown to be mediated through increased production of interleukin (IL)-2, leading to enhanced proliferation of T cells, and through reduced production of prostaglandin E(2), a T-cell suppressive factor, as a result of a decreased peroxynitrite formation. Vitamin E increased both cell-dividing and IL-producing capacities of naive T cells, but not memory T cells. The vitamin E-induced enhancement of immune functions in the aged was associated with significant improvement in resistance to influenza infection in aged mice and a reduced risk of acquiring upper respiratory infections in nursing home residents. Further studies are needed to determine the signaling mechanisms involved in the upregulation of naive T-cell function by vitamin E as well as the specific mechanisms involved in reduction of risk for upper respiratory infections.

Published 10 May 2005 in Immunol Rev, 205: 269-84.
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