Ageing and Senescence in Immune Cells In Vitro and In Vivo

Since the discovery of T cell growth factor, now known as interleukin 2 (IL 2), it has been possible to serially culture normal human T lymphocytes, something that cannot be done with other immune cells such as B cells or monocytes/macrophages. This chapter will focus on cloning efficiencies of T cells from younger or older subjects, their longevity in culture under different conditions and the progressive changes occurring over their in vitro lifespan.