Increase of CXC chemokine CXCL10 and CC chemokine CCL2 serum levels in normal ageing

No study has evaluated contemporaneously serum CXC and CC chemokines changes in normal ageing. Serum levels of CXCL10 (sCXCL10) (CXC) and CCL2 (sCCL2) (CC) prototype chemokines have been measured in 164 healthy subjects, from 10 to 79 years of age (82 males/82 females). By simple regression analysis, sCXCL10 and sCCL2 were significantly related with increasing age (r = 0.32, p < 0.001; r = 0.31, p < 0.0001, respectively), and with each other (r = 0.30, p = 0.0004). In a multiple linear regression model, only age and sCCL2 were significantly related to sCXCL10 levels (p < 0.001); age and sCXCL10 were significantly related to sCCL2 levels (p < 0.001). Subjects with high sCXCL10 levels (>150 pg/ml) were not significantly associated with those with high sCCL2 levels (>559 pg/ml). This study, performed in healthy subjects on an age gradient, demonstrates an increase of sCXCL10 and sCCL2 with advancing age; the differential increase of sCXCL10 or sCCL2 may reflect a general shift towards Th1 or Th2 cytokines pattern, respectively.