Expression and catalytic activities of protein tyrosine kinases (PTKs) Fyn and Lck in peripheral blood T cells from elderly humans stimulated through the T cell receptor (TCR)/CD3 complex

Optimal signal transduction through the T cell receptor (TCR)/CD3 complex requires the coordinated activities of protein tyrosine kinases (PTKs) Fyn and Lck in addition to protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPases) such as CD45. Although T cells stimulated with anti-CD3 monoclonal antibodies (mAb) exhibit age-related reductions in tyrosine phosphorylations of cellular proteins, it is unknown if the reductions represent abnormalities in PTKs or PTPases. In the current studies, immune complex kinase assays showed that the stimulation of peripheral blood T (PBT) cells from young humans with cross-linked anti-CD3 ε mAb OKT3 induced increased Fyn catalytic activity while anti-CD3 stimulation failed to induce significant increases in Lck activation. By contrast, Fyn activation in anti-CD3 stimulated PBT cells from a substantial proportion of elderly humans was reduced compared to anti-CD3 stimulated PBT cells from young humans. Also, we failed to find any increase in anti-CD3 stimulation of Lck activity in PBT cells from elderly subjects that could compensate for the decline in Fyn activity. However, no age-related alterations were detected in PBT cell expression of Fyn or Lck that might contribute to the changes in enzymatic activity. The results of other experiments demonstrated that the functional activities of PTPases in PBT cells from elderly subjects were equivalent to PBT cells from young subjects. These observations suggest that aberrant regulation of TCR/CD3 coupled PTKs may contribute to the age-related defects in signaling cascades and immune responsiveness of human T cells.