Aging of the immune system: Focus on inflammation and vaccination

Abstract

Major advances in preventing, delaying or curing individual pathologies are responsible for an increasingly long life span in the developed parts of our planet, and indeed reaching 8–9 decades of life is nowadays extremely frequent. However, medical and sanitary advances have not prevented or delayed the underlying cause of the disparate pathologies occurring in the elderly: aging itself. The identification of the basis of the aging processes that drives the multiple pathologies and loss of function typical of older individuals is a major challenge in current aging research. Among the possible causes, an impairment of the immune system plays a major role, and indeed numerous studies have described immunological changes which occur with age. Far from the intention of being exhaustive, this review will focus on recent advances and views on the role that modifications of cell signalling and remodelling of the immune response play during human aging and longevity, paying particular attention to phenomena which are linked to the so called inflammaging process, such as dysregulation of innate immunity, altered T-cell or B-cell maturation and differentiation, as well as to the implications of immune aging for vaccination strategies in the elderly.

Respiratory syncytial virus infection: an innate perspective

“…In addition, it is likely that structural features including small airway calibre may make infants more prone to critical airway narrowing and resultant hypoxia in the face of lung inflammation 28 . The elderly have a senescing immune system and are therefore less able to induce appropriate responses to invading pathogens 30, 31 . It is possible that the innate immune response in these two at-risk groups is suboptimal, which results in an unbalanced immune response and inefficient balance between viral control and immunopathology.…”

Label-free detection of interleukin-6 using electrolyte gated organic field effect transistors

“…2 IL-6 is a multifunctional cytokine that orchestrates innate and adaptive immunity, induces the acute phase response, and is involved in bone metabolism by acting on osteoclasts and promoting osteoclastogenesis, as well as in the control of vascular permeability by inducing the production of vascular endothelial growth factor. 2 It represents a critical cytokine in infection, cancer and inflammation, and it has been demonstrated that increased IL-6 levels are associated with disease settings such as several chronic inflammatory pathologies and cancer, in contrast to the relative low (1)(2)(3)(4)(5) pg/mL) physiological concentrations found in human serum. 1 Moreover, increased levels of circulating IL-6 are commonly used as indicator of inflammaging.…”

“…1 Moreover, increased levels of circulating IL-6 are commonly used as indicator of inflammaging. 3 Besides serving as a biomarker for inflammation processes, IL-6 is now being targeted by therapeutic strategies to inhibit its pathway.…”

Invecchiamento cellulare e infezione da HIV

“…L'invecchiamento immunitario negli anziani è definito primariamente da cambiamenti delle sottopopolazioni delle cellule T e dall'alterazione della loro funzione. Questo include un aumento di linfociti TCD8+ circolanti con un'espansione delle cellule TCD4+ e CD8+ memoria, fenomeno descritto come "memory inflation", con predominanza di cloni specifici per Citomegalovirus che aumentano con l'età (12,13). Attualmente non è ancora chiaro se la carenza di sviluppo, omeostatica o funzionale delle cellule T regolatorie CD4+ contribuisca allo sviluppo del profilo di invecchiamento immunologico (9).…”