Aging cell
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Age-associated immune dysfunction, characterized by increased systemic levels of cytokines, manifests as an increased susceptibility to infections. Thus, understanding these negative regulators of the immune response has paved the way to delineating signaling pathways that impact immune senescence. In the present study, we found that miR-146a, which negatively regulated the expression of IL-1β and IL-6, was highly expressed in aged mice. ⋯ Additionally, high levels of histone deacetylase (HDACs) expressions contributed to the inhibition of miR-146a expression in LPS-stimulated macrophages from aged mice in vitro. While the suppression of HDACs activities by TSA could improve LPS-induced inflammatory responses owing to up-regulation of miR-146a expression in macrophages from aged mice. These data indicate that the dysregulated expression of miR-146a results in the age-associated dysfunction of macrophages, and miR-146a may be a good target for the treatment of age-related inflammatory diseases.