The cell surface markers expression in postmenopausal women and relation to obesity and bone status

Abstract

The age-related changes and hormonal deprivation in postmenopausal women are associated with the immune response alteration. The excessive fat accumulation, local and systemic inflammation may lead to dysregulation in immune function and relevant health problems, including obesity and osteoporosis. We analyzed the expression of cell surface markers in the venous blood specimens, stained with fluorophores-conjugated monoclonal antibodies and analysed by multicolour flow cytometry. The significant changes of cytotoxic, naive, and memory T-lymphocytes, plasmacytoid dendritic cells (DCs) were in postmenopausal women versus fertile women. Body mass index (BMI) affected markedly the cell surface expression of CD265/RANK. Osteoporosis is linked to reduced percentage of plasmacytoid DCs, and elevated natural Treg cells (p < 0.05). The confounding factors such as women age, BMI, bone mineral density (BMD), waist size and tissue fat affect the expression of RANK on myeloid DCs and CD40L on T-lymphocytes that might be the immunophenotypic modulators after menopause.