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Effect of UV Exposure and ß-Carotene Supplementation on Delayed-Type Hypersensitivity Response in Healthy Older Men

Division of Nutritional Sciences (L.A.H., W-C.H., R.S.P., J.E.S.), Cornell University, New York
New Product Research (A.B.), SmithKline Beecham Consumer Healthcare, Parsippany, New Jersey

Address reprint requests to: Robert S. Parker, PhD, 113 Savage Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853

Objectives: The aims of this study were to determine if ultraviolet light (UV) is immunosuppressive in healthy older males, if ß-carotene (ßC) supplementation could prevent any observed UV-induced immunosuppression, and to compare these effects with those observed previously in younger men.

Methods: The study was a placebo-controlled, randomized trial that employed a 2x2 factorial design. Healthy older men (mean age 65.5 years) received 30 mg ßC or placebo daily throughout the 47-day trial, while on a low carotenoid diet. After 28 days, half of each group received 12 suberythemic exposures to UV over a 16-day period. Delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) tests and plasma carotenoid assays were performed at baseline, pre-UV and post-UV time points, with DTH testing performed on an area of skin protected from UV exposure.

Results: UV exposure resulted in significantly suppressed DTH response in the placebo group but not in the ßC-UV group. While there was no significant interaction between ßC supplementation and UV on DTH response, there was a significant inverse relationship between final plasma ßC concentration and extent of UV-induced suppression of DTH response. A similar correlation existed among subjects not exposed to UV.

Conclusions: Suberythemic UV exposure was immunosuppressive, as measured by DTH response, in healthy older men as in younger men. Higher plasma ßC was significantly associated with maintenance of DTH response, although the extent of protective effect of ßC appeared less than previously observed in younger subjects. The attenuated effect of ßC in the older UV-exposed subjects may have resulted in part from muted plasma ßC responses to ßC supplementation and/or higher plasma vitamin E levels than those of younger men. The finding that stronger DTH responses were associated with higher plasma ßC concentrations in both UV and non-UV subjects further supports a role for this nutrient in immunomodulation.

Key words: UV, immunosuppression, ß-carotene, delayed-type hypersensitivity, aging

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