Review

Melatonin, immune function and aging

V Srinivasan¹ , GJM Maestroni² , DP Cardinali³ , AI Esquifino⁴ , SR Pandi Perumal⁵ and SC Miller⁶

¹Department of Physiology, School of Medical Sciences, University Sains Malaysia 16150, Kubang Kerian, Kelantan, Malaysia

²Center for Experimental Pathology, Cantonal Institute of Pathology, Via In Selva 24, PO Box 660, Locarno, Switzerland

³Departamento de Fisiología, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Buenos Aires, 1121 Buenos Aires, Argentina

⁴Departamento de Bioquímica y Biología Molecular, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Complutense, 28040, Madrid, Spain

⁵Comprehensive Center for Sleep Medicine, Department of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, 1176 - 5th Avenue, 6th Floor, New York, NY 10029, USA

⁶Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Strathcona Anatomy & Dentistry Building, McGill University, Montreal, PQ, H3A 2B2, Canada

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Immunity & Ageing 2005, 2:17doi:10.1186/1742-4933-2-17

Published:	29 November 2005

Abstract

Aging is associated with a decline in immune function (immunosenescence), a situation known to correlate with increased incidence of cancer, infectious and degenerative diseases. Innate, cellular and humoral immunity all exhibit increased deterioration with age. A decrease in functional competence of individual natural killer (NK) cells is found with advancing age. Macrophages and granulocytes show functional decline in aging as evidenced by their diminished phagocytic activity and impairment of superoxide generation. There is also marked shift in cytokine profile as age advances, e.g., CD3+ and CD4+ cells decline in number whereas CD8+ cells increase in elderly individuals. A decline in organ specific antibodies occurs causing reduced humoral responsiveness. Circulating melatonin decreases with age and in recent years much interest has been focused on its immunomodulatory effect. Melatonin stimulates the production of progenitor cells for granulocytes-macrophages. It also stimulates the production of NK cells and CD4+ cells and inhibits CD8+ cells. The production and release of various cytokines from NK cells and T-helper lymphocytes also are enhanced by melatonin. Melatonin presumably regulates immune function by acting on the immune-opioid network, by affecting G protein-cAMP signal pathway and by regulating intracellular glutathione levels. Melatonin has the potential therapeutic value to enhance immune function in aged individuals and in patients in an immunocompromised state.