No abstract

Healthy elderly people tend to have autoantibodies in their sera. These antibodies, not being associated with any clinical manifestation, have been considered as natural autoantibodies. In systemic lupus erythematosus, as well as in rheumatoid arthritis, the presence of autoantibodies characteristic of these diseases (anti‐dsDNA and rheumatoid factor, respectively) depends on the endogeneous production of IL‐10. The same could hold true for autoantibodies found in healthy elderly individuals. In the present work, the authors analysed whether an increased production of IL‐10 contributed to the production of autoantibodies in elderly people. The authors found that there is neither increased in vivo gene expression nor augmented production of IL‐10 by peripheral blood mononuclear cells from elderly women even if they do produce autoantibodies. The authors further sought to determine if the production of autoantibodies is inhibited in vitro by adding an anti‐IL‐10 MoAb to cell cultures and found that it is not. Despite these negative findings of a role for IL‐10 in the production of autoantibodies in elderly people, the authors investigated which cells produce IL‐10. In so doing they found that intracellular IL‐10 expression occurred exclusively in monocytes in young female controls, but in elderly females it involved also CD8+CD3+ large granular cells. These results indicate that autoantibody production in healthy aged individuals is IL‐10 independent.

Obesity has become a worldwide pandemic. Governments around the globe are taking sanitary measures in order to reduce or prevent it. Children are becoming overweight and obese at earlier ages, which could predispose them to chronic diseases, such as diabetes, hypertension and metabolic syndrome later in life. Obesity has been described as a "chronic state of low-grade inflammation" characterized by an increase in proteins secreted by the adipose tissue (adipokines), such as leptin, interleukin-6 (IL-6) and TNF-a, while the antinflammatory adiponectin is reduced.We studied 1500 children aged 6 to 12 years from March to April 2012, in 14 Primary Schools in the State of Mexico. Anthropometric assessment included height, weight and BMI adjusted by age according to the International Obesity Task Force and children were classified as "normal weight" (N, n = 150), "overweight" (Ov, n = 225) or "obese" (Ob, n = 1125). Peripheral blood was obtained to quantify biochemical and metabolic markers (glucose, insulin, triglycerides, total cholesterol, LDL and HDL), adipokines (leptin, adiponectin, TNF-a and IL-6) and proinflammatory proteins (IL-8).Although still in the normal range, serum levels of glucose in Ov and Ob children (average, 86.4 and 88.6 mg/dL, respectively) were statistically higher than in N children (84.9 mg/dL) which was due to an increase in insulin (pg/mL, N = 5.8, Ov = 10.8 and Ob = 13.5). There was also an increase in triglycerides (in mg/dL, N = 89.9, Ov = 136.5, Ob = 151.3), cholesterol (in mg/dL, N = 168.5, Ov = 172.0, Ob = 181.7), LDL (in mg/dL, N = 81.2, Ov = 88.8, Ob = 96.1), leptin (pg/mL, N = 3.9, Ov = 11.1, Ob = 17.5), TNF-a (pg/mL, N = 2.1, Ov = 2.2, Ob = 2.5) and IL-6 (pg/mL, N = 4.4, Ov = 5.9, Ob = 4.0). On the other hand, there was a reduction in HDL (mg/dL, N = 46.5, Ov = 38.1, Ob = 38.0), adiponectin (mg/mL, N = 28.6, Ov = 19.5, Ob = 18.2) and IL-8 (pg/mL, N = 3.1, Ov = 2.0, Ob = 2.3).These results show that even at an early age, overweight and obese young school children (aged 6 to 12 years) develop the same metabolic disturbances previously described only in adult obese people. Metabolic and proinflammatory states are clearly developed in overweight and obese young children. What is more striking is that overweight school children clearly show a trend towards an inflammatory state. The increase in metabolic and proinflammatory markers in young children clearly suggests that preventive measures are necessary to stop the pandemic of overweight and obesity in Mexico, and all over the world.