Immunosenescence: Clinical and Pharmacologic Considerations

Age-Associated Changes in Interferon-γ and Interleukin-4 Secretion by Purified Human CD4+ and CD8+ T Cells

“…In the current study, we did not observe any significant age-related changes in the CD4+/CD8+ ratio, a finding which was compatible with some previous studies [14,31]. These discrepancies may be related to heterogeneity among the elderly [8], the presence of unrecognized diseases in the subjects admitted to these immunogerontological studies [22], race [24], and psychiatric problems [10]. As a result of the extensive health checkup of the studied subjects and the application of the SENIEUR protocol, the influences from miscellaneous diseases or conditions with known effects on immune status should have been minimized in our study.…”

Physical Inactivity and Smoking Increase Risk for Serious Infections in Older Women

“…Greater risk for serious infections in older adults may be related to immunosenescence or altered immunity due to aging. However, there is a great deal of variability in immune function in the older population, and it is unclear whether observed changes in T cell functioning with aging have clinical significance 33–35 . Clinical research suggests that differences in immune function among the aged may differentiate those at greater risk for mortality and pneumonia from their less vulnerable peers 5 .…”

Modulating Effects of the Synthetic Thymic Dipeptide Pidotimod on the Immune System in the Aging Rat

“…It is well known that aging is associated to a decline of immunocyte function (Delafuente 1985). Such age-related deficiency is characterized by diminished responsiveness of General incidence of gross pathology and pituitary macroadenomas in all the experiments was zero (data not shown).…”

“…Aging is associated with changes of the immune system, characterized by decreased response of specific lymphocyte subclones to mitogenic stimuli (Staiano-Coico et al 1984), increased levels of circulating immunocomplexes (Delafuente 1985) and impaired immune-neuroendocrine feedback (Bernardini et al 1992). Such decreased proliferative capability of lymphocytes has been proposed to be partially due to diminished lymphocyte responsiveness to soluble mediators of the immune response (Staiano-Coico et al 1984;Gillis et al 1981).…”