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The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of age and sex on the taste functions of healthy Taiwanese. Subjects were divided into groups based on their sex and age: 20-39 years, 40-59 years, or ≥ 60 years. We evaluated the taste functions of subjects using the whole mouth suprathreshold taste test and the taste quad test. For the whole-mouth test, subjects were instructed to sip and swish sweet, sour, salty, and bitter solutions, each at 5 different suprathreshold concentrations. Each subject was required to indicate the taste quality, and to rate the intensity and unpleasantness/pleasantness of each taste of the solutions. For the quad test, the 4 quadrants of the tongue surface were tested by applying a drop of one concentration of sweet, sour, salty, or bitter solutions 6 times. Subjects then indicated the taste quality and rated the intensity of the solution. We found that in the whole mouth test, the total correct identification score dropped with age, but the ability to identify sweet and salty qualities was not affected by age. No differences were found between males and females, except women scored better than men for sweetness in the 40-59 years age group. The intensity rating scores were higher in the 20-39 years age group, regardless of sex. With regard to the pleasantness of tastants, female subjects in the 20-39 years age group found sweet solution more pleasant than the older subjects did. In the quad test, the total correct identification score decreased with age, but there were no differences between males and females. Thus, our findings showed that both age and sex affected the taste functions of healthy Taiwanese to some extent, and differences were dependent on tongue region and taste quality.

IL-10 is associated with tumor malignancy via immune escape. We hypothesized that IL-10 haplotypes categorized by IL-10 promoter polymorphisms at -1082A>G, -819C>T, and -592C>A might influence IL-10 expression and give rise to non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with poor outcomes and relapse. We collected adjacent normal tissues from 385 NSCLC patients to determine IL-10 haplotypes by direct sequencing and polymerase chain reaction restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP). Of the 385 tumors, 241 were available to evaluate IL-10 mRNA expression levels by real-time RT-PCR. The influence of IL-10 haplotypes on overall survival (OS) and relapse free survival (RFS) were determined by Kaplan-Meier and multivariate Cox regression analysis. The results showed that IL-10 mRNA levels were significantly higher in tumors with the non-ATA haplotype than with the ATA haplotype (P = 0.004). Patients with the non-ATA haplotype had shorter OS and RFS periods than did patients with the ATA haplotype. This may be associated with the observation that the number of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes was decreased in the tumors with higher levels of IL-10. Consistently, T cells from the peripheral blood of the patients with non-ATA haplotype were more susceptible to apoptosis and less cytotoxic to tumor cells, compared to those from the patients with ATA haplotype. The results suggest that IL-10 can promote tumor malignancy via promoting T cell apoptosis and tumor cell survival, and IL-10 haplotype evaluated by PCR-RFLP or direct sequencing may be used to predict survival and relapse in resected NSCLC, helping clinicians to make appropriate decisions on treatment of the patients.