Articles

Research on immunity and ageing comes of age

Ageing has a profound detrimental impact on almost all living organisms. Immune systems play a particularly important role in protection against external challenges (pathogens) and internal insults (cancer) bu...

Authors: Nan-ping Weng and Graham Pawelec

Lag-time in Alzheimer’s disease patients: a potential plasmatic oxidative stress marker associated with ApoE4 isoform

In the brain, Oxidative Stress (OS) contribute to structural and functional changes associated with vascular aging, such as endothelial dysfunction, extracellular matrix degradation, resulting in age-related r...

Authors: Luca Massaccesi, Emanuela Galliera, Daniela Galimberti, Chiara Fenoglio, Marina Arcaro, Giancarlo Goi, Alessandra Barassi and Massimiliano Marco Corsi Romanelli

Akkermansia muciniphila ameliorates the age-related decline in colonic mucus thickness and attenuates immune activation in accelerated aging Ercc1^−/Δ7 mice

The use of Akkermansia muciniphila as potential therapeutic intervention is receiving increasing attention. Health benefits attributed to this bacterium include an improvement of metabolic disorders and exerting ...

Authors: Benthe van der Lugt, Adriaan A. van Beek, Steven Aalvink, Ben Meijer, Bruno Sovran, Wilbert P. Vermeij, Renata M. C. Brandt, Willem M. de Vos, Huub F. J. Savelkoul, Wilma T. Steegenga and Clara Belzer

Taste receptors, innate immunity and longevity: the case of TAS2R16 gene

Innate immunity utilizes components of sensory signal transduction such as bitter and sweet taste receptors. In fact, empirical evidence has shown bitter and sweet taste receptors to be an integral component o...

Authors: Alberto Malovini, Giulia Accardi, Anna Aiello, Riccardo Bellazzi, Giuseppina Candore, Calogero Caruso, Mattia Emanuela Ligotti, Anna Maciag, Francesco Villa and Annibale A. Puca

PTX3: an inflammatory protein modulating ultrastructure and bioenergetics of human endothelial cells

Pentraxin 3 (PTX3), an acute-phase inflammation protein produced by several cell types, has long been described as a possible biomarker for age-related cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Although sev...

Authors: Albino Carrizzo, Claudio Procaccini, Paola Lenzi, Clorinda Fusco, Francesco Villa, Serena Migliarino, Massimiliano De Lucia, Francesco Fornai, Giuseppe Matarese, Annibale A. Puca and Carmine Vecchione

Classical monocytes maintain ex vivo glycolytic metabolism and early but not later inflammatory responses in older adults

Inflammaging is a condition of chronic low-grade inflammation due to the aging process and is associated with a variety of chronic diseases. Monocytes are innate immune cells which contribute to inflammation a...

Authors: Brandt D. Pence and Johnathan R. Yarbro

Decreased immunoglobulin G in brain regions of elder female APOE4-TR mice accompany with Aβ accumulation

Apolipoprotein E4 (APOE4) and ageing are the most important known risk factors for late-onset Alzheimer’s disease (AD). In the present study, we determined the alterations of IgG, CD19, and Aβ in various brain...

Authors: Lihang Zhang, Juan Xu, Jinchao Gao, Peiqing Chen, Ming Yin and Wenjuan Zhao

Healthy lifestyles reduce suPAR and mortality in a Danish general population study

The plasma level of the inflammatory biomarker soluble urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR) is a strong predictor of disease development and premature mortality in the general population. Unhealthy...

Authors: Thomas Huneck Haupt, Line Jee Hartmann Rasmussen, Thomas Kallemose, Steen Ladelund, Ove Andersen, Charlotta Pisinger and Jesper Eugen-Olsen

Application of biological age assessment of Chinese population in potential anti-ageing technology

This study aimed to construct a biological age assessment formula for the Chinese population and to explore the effectiveness of double filtration plasmapheresis for anti-ageing and longevity.

Authors: Xufeng Li, Jiren Zhang, Chen Sun, Yuanyuan Zhang, Rui Cai, Shilin Fu, Jingfen Zheng and Dehai Huang

Aged mice display altered numbers and phenotype of basophils, and bone marrow-derived basophil activation, with a limited role for aging-associated microbiota

The influence of age on basophils is poorly understood, as well as the effect of aging-associated microbiota on basophils. Therefore, we studied the influence of aging and aging-associated microbiota on basoph...

Authors: Adriaan A. van Beek, Floris Fransen, Ben Meijer, Paul de Vos, Edward F. Knol and Huub F. J. Savelkoul

CD56bright cells respond to stimulation until very advanced age revealing increased expression of cellular protective proteins SIRT1, HSP70 and SOD2

NK cells are cytotoxic lymphocytes of innate immunity composed of: cytotoxic CD56dim and immunoregulatory CD56bright cells. The study aimed to analyze the expression of cellular protective proteins: sirtuin 1 ...

Authors: Lucyna Kaszubowska, Jerzy Foerster, Daria Schetz and Zbigniew Kmieć

Different age-independent effects of nutraceutical combinations on endothelium-mediated coronary flow reserve

Some components of Nutraceuticals (NUT) such as red yeast rice and Morus alba have demonstrated positive effects on the endothelial function in hypercholesterolemic subjects. Our aim was to compare the effects of...

Authors: Roberta Esposito, Regina Sorrentino, Giuseppe Giugliano, Marisa Avvedimento, Roberta Paolillo, Ciro Santoro, Maria Scalamogna, Mafalda Esposito, Federica Ilardi, Francesco Rozza, Giovanni Esposito, Maurizio Galderisi and Valentina Trimarco

Effects of chocolate containing Leuconostoc mesenteroides strain NTM048 on immune function: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial

Previous reports showed that oral administration of Leuconostoc mesenteroides strain NTM048 increases IgA levels and CD4+ T cell population in feces and mice, respectively, as revealed by flow cytometric analysis...

Authors: Reiko Kuroda, Hiroaki Higuchi, Keishirou Yoshida, Yasunori Yonejima, Keiko Hisa, Masanori Utsuyama, Kenji Osawa and Katsuiku Hirokawa

Healthy elderly Singaporeans show no age-related humoral hyporesponsiveness nor diminished plasmablast generation in response to influenza vaccine

Improving influenza vaccine efficacy is a priority to reduce the burden of influenza-associated morbidity and mortality. By careful selection of individuals based on health we show sustained response to influe...

Authors: Xavier Camous, Lucian Visan, Crystal Tan Tze Ying, Brian Abel, Ma Shwe Zin Nyunt, Vipin Narang, Michael Poidinger, Christophe Carre, Sanie Sesay, Nabil Bosco, Nicolas Burdin, Paul Anantharajah Tambyah, Ng Tze Pin and Anis Larbi

A comprehensive characterization of aggravated aging-related changes in T lymphocytes and monocytes in end-stage renal disease: the iESRD study

Patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) exhibit a premature aging phenotype of the immune system. Nevertheless, the etiology and impact of these changes in ESRD patients remain unknown.

Authors: Yen-Ling Chiu, Kai-Hsiang Shu, Feng-Jung Yang, Tzu-Ying Chou, Ping-Min Chen, Fang-Yun Lay, Szu-Yu Pan, Cheng-Jui Lin, Nicolle H R Litjens, Michiel G H Betjes, Selma Bermudez, Kung-Chi Kao, Jean-San Chia, George Wang, Yu-Sen Peng and Yi-Fang Chuang

Association of immunoglobulin GM allotypes with longevity in long-living individuals from Southern Italy

The aim of this study was to analyse the role of GM allotypes, i.e. the hereditary antigenic determinants expressed on immunoglobulin polypeptide chains, in the attainment of longevity. The role played by immu...

Authors: Annibale A. Puca, Anna Ferrario, Anna Maciag, Giulia Accardi, Anna Aiello, Caterina Maria Gambino, Giuseppina Candore, Calogero Caruso, Aryan M. Namboodiri and Janardan P. Pandey

Genetics of exceptional longevity: possible role of GM allotypes

Authors: Calogero Caruso, Janardan P. Pandey and Annibale A. Puca

Crocetin attenuates inflammation and amyloid-β accumulation in APPsw transgenic mice

Crocetin, an agent derived from saffron, has multiple pharmacological properties, such as neuroprotective, anti-oxidant, and anti-inflammatory actions. These properties might benefit the treatment of Alzheimer...

Authors: Jin Zhang, Yuchao Wang, Xueshuang Dong and Jianghua Liu

Expression changes of autophagy-related proteins in AKI patients treated with CRRT and their effects on prognosis of adult and elderly patients

Sepsis is one of the common death factors in intensive care unit, which refers to the systemic inflammatory response syndrome caused by infection. It has many complications such as acute renal injury, shock, m...

Authors: Yang Zhang, Ling Wang, Lei Meng, Guang-Ke Cao, Yu-Liang Zhao and Yu Wu

Immunosenescence and lymphomagenesis

One of the most important determinants of aging-related changes is a complex biological process emerged recently and called “immunosenescence”. Immunosenescence refers to the inability of an aging immune syste...

Authors: Salvatrice Mancuso, Melania Carlisi, Marco Santoro, Mariasanta Napolitano, Simona Raso and Sergio Siragusa

The baseline levels and risk factors for high-sensitive C-reactive protein in Chinese healthy population

Recent studies show that C-reactive protein (CRP) is not only a biomarker but also a pathogenic mediator contributing to the development of inflammation and ageing-related diseases. However, serum levels of CR...

Authors: Ying Tang, Peifen Liang, Junzhe Chen, Sha Fu, Bo Liu, Min Feng, Baojuan Lin, Ben Lee, Anping Xu and Hui Y. Lan

Age does not influence the disease course in a mouse model of Streptococcus pneumoniae serotype 3 meningitis

In order to elucidate the causes for the increased mortality of aged patients with bacterial central nervous system (CNS) infections, we compared the course of Streptococcus pneumoniae (S. pneumoniae) meningitis ...

Authors: Anja Manig, Sandra Ribes, Catharina Diesselberg, Stephanie Bunkowski, Roland Nau and Sandra Schütze

Immune response to influenza vaccination in the elderly is altered by chronic medication use

The elderly patient population is the most susceptible to influenza virus infection and its associated complications. Polypharmacy is common in the aged, who often have multiple co-morbidities. Previous studie...

Authors: Divyansh Agarwal, Kenneth E. Schmader, Andrew V. Kossenkov, Susan Doyle, Raj Kurupati and Hildegund C. J. Ertl

Correction to: Virtual memory cells make a major contribution to the response of aged influenza-naïve mice to influenza virus infection

In the original publication of this article [1] there is an error in Fig. 3a as the labels “TM” and “VM” are in the wrong order for the last plot. The CD49d high cells should be “TM” and the CD49d low cells sh...

Authors: Kathleen G. Lanzer, Tres Cookenham, William W. Reiley and Marcia A. Blackman

Virtual memory cells make a major contribution to the response of aged influenza-naïve mice to influenza virus infection

A diverse repertoire of naïve T cells is thought to be essential for a robust response to new infections. However, a key aspect of aging of the T cell compartment is a decline in numbers and diversity of perip...

Authors: Kathleen G. Lanzer, Tres Cookenham, William W. Reiley and Marcia A. Blackman

ESRD-associated immune phenotype depends on dialysis modality and iron status: clinical implications

End-stage renal disease (ESRD) causes premature ageing of the immune system. However, it is not known whether hemodialysis (HD) and peritoneal dialysis (PD) similarly affect the T cell system.

Authors: Didier Ducloux, Mathieu Legendre, Jamal Bamoulid, Jean-Michel Rebibou, Philippe Saas, Cécile Courivaud and Thomas Crepin

Anti-cytomegalovirus IgG antibody titer is positively associated with advanced T cell differentiation and coronary artery disease in end-stage renal disease

Accumulating evidence indicates that persistent human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection is associated with several health-related adverse outcomes including atherosclerosis and premature mortality in individual...

Authors: Feng-Jung Yang, Kai-Hsiang Shu, Hung-Yuan Chen, I-Yu Chen, Fang-Yun Lay, Yi-Fang Chuang, Chien-Sheng Wu, Wan-Chuan Tsai, Yu-Sen Peng, Shih-Ping Hsu, Chih-Kang Chiang, George Wang and Yen-Ling Chiu

A study on the relationship between waist phenotype, hypertriglyceridemia, coronary artery lesions and serum free fatty acids in adult and elderly patients with coronary diseases

Abdominal obesity is an independent risk factor for coronary heart disease (CHD) and high serum triglyceride (TG) and free fatty acid levels may precipitate or aggravate CHD.

Authors: Rui-Feng Yang, Hanlei Zhang, Zhongchun Wang, Xiao-Yong Liu and Zhi Lin

Thymus and activation-regulated chemokine (TARC)/CCL17 and IgE are associated with elderly asthmatics

The pathogenesis of asthma, which is an allergic lung disease, is associated with a variety of allergens such as house dust mite, pollen, and mould, IgE containing serum IgE and allergen-specific-IgE, and infl...

Authors: Kyung Mi Jo, Hyo Kyung Lim, Jae Woong Sull, Eugene Choi, Ji-Sook Lee, Mee Ae Cheong, Min Hwa Hong, Yoori Kim and In Sik Kim

NK cells of the oldest seniors represent constant and resistant to stimulation high expression of cellular protective proteins SIRT1 and HSP70

Natural killer cells (NK cells) are cytotoxic lymphocytes of innate immunity that reveal some immunoregulatory properties, however, their role in the process of ageing is not completely understood. The study a...

Authors: Lucyna Kaszubowska, Jerzy Foerster, Jan Jacek Kaczor, Daria Schetz, Tomasz Jerzy Ślebioda and Zbigniew Kmieć

Immune-inflammatory responses in the elderly: an update

Authors: Giulia Accardi and Calogero Caruso

Gene and protein expression of CXCR4 in adult and elderly patients with chronic rhinitis, pharyngitis or sinusitis undergoing thermal water nasal inhalations

Chronic rhinitis, pharyngitis and sinusitis are common health problems with a significant impact on public health, and are suspected to be influenced by ageing factors. Nasal inhalation with thermal water may ...

Authors: Monica Neri, Luigi Sansone, Luisa Pietrasanta, Aliaksei Kisialiou, Eloisa Cabano, Marina Martini, Matteo A. Russo, Donatella Ugolini, Marco Tafani and Stefano Bonassi

Antibodies against 1940s era a/H1N1 influenza strains a/Weiss/43 and a/FM/1/47 and heterotypic responses after seasonal vaccination of an elderly Spanish population

Elderly people have experienced several influenza natural infections and seasonal vaccinations during their lives. The aim of this work was to evaluate in an elderly Spanish population the presence of antibodi...

Authors: Ivan Sanz, Silvia Rojo, Sonia Tamames, Jose María Eiros and Raúl Ortiz de Lejarazu

Neuroinflammation and neurohormesis in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease and Alzheimer-linked pathologies: modulation by nutritional mushrooms

Human life develops and expands not only in time and space, but also in the retrograde permanent recollection and interweaving of memories. Therefore, individual human identity depends fully on a proper access...

Authors: Angela Trovato Salinaro, Manuela Pennisi, Rosanna Di Paola, Maria Scuto, Rosalia Crupi, Maria Teresa Cambria, Maria Laura Ontario, Mario Tomasello, Maurizio Uva, Luigi Maiolino, Edward J. Calabrese, Salvatore Cuzzocrea and Vittorio Calabrese

Effects of a new nutraceutical combination on cognitive function in hypertensive patients

Chronic increased arterial blood pressure has been associated with executive dysfunction, slowing of attention and mental processing speed, and later with memory deficits. Due to the absence of a concrete ther...

Authors: Giuseppe Giugliano, Alessia Salemme, Sara De Longis, Marialuisa Perrotta, Valentina D’Angelosante, Alessandro Landolfi, Raffaele Izzo and Valentina Trimarco

Porphyromonas gingivalis, a periodontitis causing bacterium, induces memory impairment and age-dependent neuroinflammation in mice

A possible relationship between periodontitis and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) has been reported. However, there is limited information on the association between the Porphyromonas gingivalis (P. gingivalis) periodon...

Authors: Ye Ding, Jingyi Ren, Hongqiang Yu, Weixian Yu and Yanmin Zhou

Interventions to restore appropriate immune function in the elderly

Advanced age is one indicator of likely immune dysfunction. As worldwide, the global population contains progressively more and more older individuals there is likelihood of an increased prevalence and inciden...

Authors: Richard Aspinall and Pierre Olivier Lang

The association of high sensitivity C-reactive protein and incident Alzheimer disease in patients 60 years and older: The HUNT study, Norway

With ageing, long-standing inflammation can be destructive, contributing to development of several disorders, among these Alzheimer’s disease (AD). C-reactive protein (CRP) is a relatively stable peripheral in...

Authors: Jessica Mira Gabin, Ingvild Saltvedt, Kristian Tambs and Jostein Holmen

Vaccines for the elderly: current use and future challenges

Age-related changes of the immune system contribute to increased incidence and severity of infections in the elderly. Vaccination is the most effective measure to prevent infections and vaccination recommendat...

Authors: Birgit Weinberger

Molecular changes associated with increased TNF-α-induced apoptotis in naïve (T_N) and central memory (T_CM) CD8+ T cells in aged humans

Progressive T cell decline in aged humans is associated with a deficiency of naïve (T_N) and central memory (T_CM) T cells. We have previously reported increased Tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α)-induced apoptosis in...

Authors: Sudhir Gupta, Houfen Su, Sudhanshu Agrawal and Sastry Gollapudi

Ageing: from inflammation to cancer

Ageing is the major risk factor for cancer development. Hallmark of the ageing process is represented by inflammaging, which is a chronic and systemic low-grade inflammatory process. Inflammation is also a hal...

Authors: Giulia C. Leonardi, Giulia Accardi, Roberto Monastero, Ferdinando Nicoletti and Massimo Libra

Immunological and non-immunological mechanisms of allergic diseases in the elderly: biological and clinical characteristics

A better hygiene, a Westernized diet, air pollution, climate changes, and other factors that influence host microbiota, a key player in the induction and maintenance of immunoregulatory circuits and tolerance,...

Authors: Gabriele Di Lorenzo, Danilo Di Bona, Federica Belluzzo and Luigi Macchia

Immunosenescence in persons with spinal cord injury in relation to urinary tract infections -a cross-sectional study-

Individuals with a spinal cord injury (SCI), despite specialized rehabilitation and good health care, have a reduced life expectancy. Infectious diseases, such as pneumonias, infected pressure sores and urinar...

Authors: David Pavlicek, Jörg Krebs, Simona Capossela, Alessandro Bertolo, Britta Engelhardt, Jürgen Pannek and Jivko Stoyanov

Chlorinative stress in age-related diseases: a literature review

Aging is an agglomerate of biological long-lasting processes that result being inevitable. Main actors in this scenario are both long-term inflammation and oxidative stress. It has been proved that oxidative s...

Authors: Marco Casciaro, Eleonora Di Salvo, Elisabetta Pace, Elvira Ventura-Spagnolo, Michele Navarra and Sebastiano Gangemi

Prescription database analyses indicates that the asthma medicine montelukast might protect against dementia: a hypothesis to be verified

It has recently been shown that the leukotriene receptor antagonist montelukast rejuvenates aged brains in rats. The question is whether this commonly used, systemic, anti-asthmatic medicine has a similar effe...

Authors: Bjørn Grinde and Bo Engdahl

Ileal antimicrobial peptide expression is dysregulated in old age

In an effort to understand the mechanisms underlying the high prevalence of gastrointestinal tract disorders in old age, we investigated the expression of intestinal antimicrobial peptides in the terminal smal...

Authors: Sarah Tremblay, Nathalie Marie Louise Côté, Guillaume Grenier, Gabriella Duclos-Lasnier, Louis-Charles Fortier, Subburaj Ilangumaran and Alfredo Menendez

Altered activation state of circulating neutrophils in patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration

Neutrophil dysfunction plays a key role in the development of diseases characterized by inflammation and angiogenesis. Here, we studied the systemic expression of neutrophil markers reflecting activation, adhe...

Authors: Marie Krogh Nielsen, Sven Magnus Hector, Kelly Allen, Yousif Subhi and Torben Lykke Sørensen

Influenza vaccine response in community-dwelling German prefrail and frail individuals

The age-related dysregulation of the immune system in older persons results in reduced responses to vaccination and greater susceptibility to infection, especially in frail individuals who suffer the greatest ...

Authors: Jürgen M. Bauer, Antonio De Castro, Nabil Bosco, Celine Romagny, Rebecca Diekmann, Jalil Benyacoub and Karine Vidal

Long-term maintenance of diphtheria-specific antibodies after booster vaccination is hampered by latent infection with Cytomegalovirus

Many currently used vaccines are less immunogenic in the elderly compared to young adults. The impact of latent infection with Cytomegalovirus (CMV) on vaccine-induced antibody responses has been discussed con...

Authors: Birgit Weinberger, Michael Keller and Beatrix Grubeck-Loebenstein

Transcriptomic profiles of aging in naïve and memory CD4⁺ cells from mice

CD4+ T cells can be broadly divided into naïve and memory subsets, each of which are differentially impaired by the aging process. It is unclear if and how these differences are reflected at the transcriptomic...

Authors: Jackson Taylor, Lindsay Reynolds, Li Hou, Kurt Lohman, Wei Cui, Stephen Kritchevsky, Charles McCall and Yongmei Liu