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CD4 + regulatory T cells have been intensively studied during aging, but little is still known about age-related changes of other regulatory T cell subsets. It was, therefore, the goal of the present study to analyze CD8 + human leukocyte antigen-antigen D related (HLADR) + T cells in old age, a cell population reported to have suppressive activity and to be connected to specific genetic variants. We demonstrate a strong increase in the number of CD8 + HLADR + T cells with age in a cohort of female Sardinians as well as in elderly male and female persons from Austria. We also show that CD8 + HLADR + T cells lack classical activation molecules, such as CD69 and CD25, but contain increased numbers of checkpoint inhibitory molecules, such as cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated antigen 4, T cell immunoglobulin and mucin protein-3, LAG-3, and PD-1, when compared with their HLADR - counterparts. They also have the capacity to inhibit the proliferation of autologous peripheral blood mononuclear cells. This suppressive activity is, however, decreased when CD8 + HLADR + T cells from elderly persons are analyzed. In accordance with this finding, CD8 + HLADR + T cells from persons of old age contain lower percentages of checkpoint inhibitory molecules than young controls. We conclude that in spite of high abundance of a CD8 + regulatory T cell subset in old age its expression of checkpoint inhibitory molecules and its suppressive function on a per cell basis are reduced. Reduction of suppressive capacity may support uncontrolled subclinical inflammatory processes referred to as "inflamm-aging."

The possible genotoxicity of extremely low frequency magnetic field (ELF-MF) exposure is still a controversial topic. The most of the reported data suggests that it alone does not affect DNA integrity, but several recent reports have suggested that sinusoidal ELF-MF may increase the effect of known genotoxic agents. Only a few studies deal with non sinusoidal ELF-MF, including pulsed magnetic field (PMF), which are produced by several devices. The aim of this study is to investigate whether PMF exposure can interfere with DNA damage and repair in the presence of a genotoxic oxidative agent in neuronal type cells. To this purpose gamma-H2AX foci formation, which is a sensitive marker of DNA double strand breaks (DSB), was investigated at different points of time (1, 24, 48, 72h) after the H2O2 treatment (300μM for 1h) under PMF exposure (1mT, 50Hz) in human neuroblastoma BE(2)C cells. Moreover, cytotoxicity evaluation, by MTT assay and cell cycle analysis, was performed at various points of time after the treatment. Taken together, results suggest that PMF exposure does not interfere with genotoxicity and cytotoxicity induced by oxidative stress., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)