Immune function, oxidative and inflammatory markers in centenarians as potential predictors of survival and indicators of recovery after hospital admission.

Several parameters of immune function, oxidative and inflammatory stresses have been proposed as markers of health and predictors of longevity and mortality. However, it is unknown if any of these parameters can be predictive of survival in centenarians. Therefore, in a group of 27 centenarians, at the time of admission to the Clinical Hospital of Madrid, a series of immune function, antioxidant, oxidant and inflammatory parameters, were studied. Some centenarians survived and others did not, establishing two groups, "survivors" (n = 9) and "non-survivors" (n = 18). The results show that surviving centenarians display higher neutrophil chemotaxis and microbicidal capacity, NK activity, lymphoproliferation, glutathione reductase activity and basal IL-10 release. Moreover, they show lower neutrophil and lymphocyte adherence, superoxide anion and malondialdehyde concentrations and basal release of TNF-α. The ODDS RATIOS (OR) for survival for these parameters were also calculated and those with the highest ORs were the lymphoproliferative capacity and the ex vivo basal and stimulated release of IL-6 from mononuclear cells (OR = 136.00). Therefore, these parameters have the potential to be used in the clinical setting as predictors of survival in centenarians. In the survivors group, the same parameters were also analyzed after three months. Since survivors showed an increase in neutrophil and lymphocyte chemotaxis capacity during the recovery period, reaching similar values to those observed in healthy centenarians, these could be proposed as indicators of recovery.