Calorie Restriction Enhances T-Cell-Mediated Immune Response in Adult Overweight Men and Women

Calorie restriction (CR) enhances immune response and prolongs life span in animals. However, information on the applicability of these results to humans is limited. T-cell function declines with age, We examined effects of CR on T-cell function in humans. Forty-six overweight, nonobese participants aged 20-42 years were randomly assigned to 30% or 10% CR group for 6 months. Delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH), T-cell proliferation (TP), and prostaglandin E-2 (PGE(2)) productions were determined before and after CR. DTH and TP to T cell mitogens were increased in both groups over baseline (p <=.019). However, number of positive responses to DTH antigens (p=.016) and TP to anti-CD3 reached statistical significance only after 30% CR (p=.001). Lipopolysaccharide-stimulated PGE(2) was reduced in both groups but reached statistical significance after 30% CR (p <=.029). These results, for the first time, show that 6-month CR in humans improves T-cell function.