Articles

Age-related differences in polyfunctional T cell responses

A reduced number of naïve T cells along with an accumulation of differentiated cell types in aging have been described but little is known about the polyfunctionality of the T cell responses. In this study we ...

Authors: Puja Van Epps, Richard Banks, Htin Aung, Michael R Betts and David H Canaday

Bereavement reduces neutrophil oxidative burst only in older adults: role of the HPA axis and immunesenescence

The effect of the chronic stress of bereavement on immunity is poorly understood. Previous studies have demonstrated negative effects on immunity in older adults, and those who report higher depressive symptom...

Authors: Ana Vitlic, Riyad Khanfer, Janet M Lord, Douglas Carroll and Anna C Phillips

The effect of aging on the frequency, phenotype and cytokine production of human blood CD4 + CXCR5 + T follicular helper cells: comparison of aged and young subjects

T cell-dependent B-cell responses decline with age, indicating declined cognate helper activity of aged CD4 + T cells for B cells. However, the mechanisms remain unclear. T follicular helper (Tfh) cells, a nov...

Authors: Maohua Zhou, Ruqiong Zou, Huiquan Gan, Zhimei Liang, Fujun Li, Ting Lin, Yanfei Luo, Xiaoming Cai, Fang He and Erxia Shen

Lipid-laden partially-activated plasmacytoid and CD4⁻CD8α⁺ dendritic cells accumulate in tissues in elderly mice

Aging is associated with a decline in lymphocyte function however, little is known about dendritic cell (DC) subsets and aging. Aging is also associated with increasing circulating lipid levels and intracellul...

Authors: Joanne K Gardner, Cyril DS Mamotte, Terrence McGonigle, Danielle E Dye, Connie Jackaman and Delia J Nelson

Antibody responses to intradermal or intramuscular MF59-adjuvanted influenza vaccines as evaluated in elderly institutionalized volunteers during a season of partial mismatching between vaccine and circulating A(H3N2) strains

The age-related weakening of the immune system makes elderly subjects less responsive to influenza vaccination. In the last years, two “enhanced vaccines” were licensed for individuals aged ≥65 years, one bein...

Authors: Barbara Camilloni, Michela Basileo, Angela Di Martino, Isabella Donatelli and Anna Maria Iorio

Impact of ageing on the response and repertoire of influenza virus-specific CD4 T cells

Ageing has been shown to reduce CD8 T cell repertoire diversity and immune responses against influenza virus infection in mice. In contrast, less is known about the impact of ageing on CD4 T cell repertoire di...

Authors: Kathleen G Lanzer, Lawrence L Johnson, David L Woodland and Marcia A Blackman

Ageing combines CD4 T cell lymphopenia in secondary lymphoid organs and T cell accumulation in gut associated lymphoid tissue

CD4 T cell lymphopenia is an important T cell defect associated to ageing. Higher susceptibility to infections, cancer, or autoimmune pathologies described in aged individuals is thought to partly rely on T ce...

Authors: Kim Zita Martinet, Stéphane Bloquet and Christine Bourgeois

LATEX sensitization in elderly: allergological study and diagnostic protocol

The prevalence of latex allergy varies according to the population studied from 3% to 64%. No data exist in the present literature about elderly people because they were not considered among populations at ris...

Authors: Teresa Grieco, Valentina Faina, Laura Dies, Marzio Milana, Emidio Silvestri and Stefano Calvieri

Mycobacterium leprae Hsp65 administration reduces the lifespan of aged high antibody producer mice

Aging process may result in immune modifications that lead to disruption of innate and acquired immunity mechanisms that may induce chronic-degenerative events. The heat shock proteins (Hsp), phylogeneticaly c...

Authors: Estevam José Baldon, Eliana Blini Marengo, Marcelo de Franco, Nancy Starobinas, Valquiria Bueno and Osvaldo Augusto Sant’Anna

Air pollution and subclinical airway inflammation in the SALIA cohort study

The association between long-term exposure to air pollution and local inflammation in the lung has rarely been investigated in the general population of elderly subjects before. We investigated this associatio...

Authors: Mohammad Vossoughi, Tamara Schikowski, Andrea Vierkötter, Dorothea Sugiri, Barbara Hoffmann, Tom Teichert, Christian Herder, Thomas Schulte, Christian Luckhaus, Monika Raulf-Heimsoth, Swaantje Casjens, Thomas Brüning and Ursula Krämer

Severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus infection in aged nonhuman primates is associated with modulated pulmonary and systemic immune responses

Many respiratory viruses disproportionately impact the elderly. Likewise, advanced age correlated with more adverse disease outcomes following severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) infection...

Authors: Candice C Clay, Nathan Donart, Ndingsa Fomukong, Jennifer B Knight, Katie Overheim, Jennifer Tipper, Jesse Van Westrienen, Fletcher Hahn and Kevin S Harrod

Ageing gender-specific "Biomarkers of Homeostasis", to protect ourselves against the diseases of the old age

Low-grade inflammatory state causes the development of the principal chronic-degenerative pathologies related with ageing. Consequently, it is required a better comprehension of the physiologic origins and the...

Authors: Anna Maria Berghella, Ida Contasta, Giuseppe Marulli, Carlo D’Innocenzo, Ferdinando Garofalo, Francesca Gizzi, Marco Bartolomucci, Giacomo Laglia, Marisa Valeri, Mario Gizzi, Mauro Friscioni, Mario Barone, Tiziana Del Beato, Enzo Secinaro and Patrizia Pellegrini

Molecular mechanisms associated with the strength of the anti-CMV response in nonagenarians

Infection with human cytomegalovirus (CMV) affects the function and composition of the immune system during ageing. In addition to the presence of the pathogen, the strength of the immune response, as measured...

Authors: Saara Marttila, Juulia Jylhävä, Laura Kananen, Antti Hervonen, Marja Jylhä and Mikko Hurme

CpG sites associated with NRP1, NRXN2 and miR-29b-2 are hypomethylated in monocytes during ageing

Ageing affects many components of the immune system, including innate immune cells like monocytes. They are important in the early response to pathogens and for their role to differentiate into macrophages and...

Authors: Liina Tserel, Maia Limbach, Mario Saare, Kai Kisand, Andres Metspalu, Lili Milani and Pärt Peterson

Association of a common TLR-6 polymorphism with coronary artery disease – implications for healthy ageing?

The pro-inflammatory status of the elderly triggers most of the age-related diseases such as cancer and atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis, the leading cause world wide of morbidity and death, is an inflammatory...

Authors: Lutz Hamann, Alexander Koch, Saubashya Sur, Nadja Hoefer, Christiane Glaeser, Susanne Schulz, Michael Gross, Andre Franke, Ute Nöthlings, Kai Zacharowski and Ralf R Schumann

Age and menopause affect the expression of specific cytokines/chemokines in plasma and cervical lavage samples from female sex workers in Nairobi, Kenya

Aging of the immune system, known as immunosenescence, is associated with profound changes in both innate and adaptive immune responses, resulting in increased susceptibility to infection and a decreased abili...

Authors: Aida Sivro, Julie Lajoie, Joshua Kimani, Walter Jaoko, Francis A Plummer, Keith Fowke and T Blake Ball

Cellular stress response, sirtuins and UCP proteins in Alzheimer disease: role of vitagenes

Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder affecting up to one third of individuals reaching the age of 80. Different integrated responses exist in the brain to detect oxidative stress which is c...

Authors: Carolin Cornelius, Angela Trovato Salinaro, Maria Scuto, Vincenzo Fronte, Maria Teresa Cambria, Manuela Pennisi, Rita Bella, Pietro Milone, Antonio Graziano, Rosalia Crupi, Salvatore Cuzzocrea, Giovanni Pennisi and Vittorio Calabrese

Erratum to: Early dysregulation of the memory CD8⁺T cell repertoire leads to compromised immune responses to secondary viral infection in the aged

Authors: Lisa M Connor, Jacob E Kohlmeier, Lynn Ryan, Alan D Roberts, Tres Cookenham, Adam Quinn, Marcia A Blackman and David L Woodland

Variations in inflammatory genes are associated with periodontitis

Periodontitis is a multi-factorial disease and several risk-factors such as infections, inflammatory responses, oral hygiene, smoke, aging and individual predisposition are involved in the disease. Pathogens t...

Authors: Manuela Ianni, Giacomo Bruzzesi, Davide Pugliese, Elisa Porcellini, Ilaria Carbone, Antonio Schiavone and Federico Licastro

Does aging affect the immune status? A comparative analysis in 300 healthy volunteers from France, Austria and Spain

As the European population is getting older, there is growing need in scientific data on how to achieve healthy and successful aging. A decline in immune function with age is unanimously supported by many epid...

Authors: Marie-Paule Vasson, Marie-Chantal Farges, Nicolas Goncalves-Mendes, Jérémie Talvas, Josep Ribalta, Brigitte Winklhofer-Roob, Edmond Rock and Adrien Rossary

Telomere length dynamics in human memory T cells specific for viruses causing acute or latent infections

Declining telomere length (TL) is associated with T cell senescence. While TL in naïve and memory T cells declines with increasing age, there is limited data on TL dynamics in virus-specific memory CD4⁺ T cells i...

Authors: Joel M O'Bryan, Marcia Woda, Mary Co, Anuja Mathew and Alan L Rothman

Impaired specific CD8 T cell response with aging is not due to decreased expression of CD90 on TCR transgenic T cells

CD90 (Thy-1) is a small glycoprotein that is particularly abundant on the surface of mouse thymocytes and peripheral T cells, and is often used as a marker in adoptive transfer experiments to distinguish donor...

Authors: Jiu Jiang, Erin Fisher and Donna M Murasko

Killer Immunoglobulin-like Receptors (KIR) haplogroups A and B track with Natural Killer Cells and Cytokine Profile in Aged Subjects: Observations from Octo/Nonagenarians in the Belfast Elderly Longitudinal Free-living Aging STudy (BELFAST)

Natural Killer Cells (NK) play an important role in detection and elimination of virus-infected, damaged or cancer cells. NK cell function is guided by expression of Killer Immunoglobulin-like Receptors (KIRs)...

Authors: Irene Maeve Rea, Lynn D Maxwell, Susan E McNerlan, H Denis Alexander, Martin D Curran, Derek Middleton and Owen A Ross

Dose response kinetics of CD8 lymphocytes from young animals transfused into old animals and challenged with influenza

Transfusion of autologous leukocytes after prolonged storage has been proposed as a means of rejuvenating the immune system of older individuals. The rationale for this approach is that age related immune decl...

Authors: Richard Aspinall, Sheila Govind, Antonio Lapenna and Pierre Olivier Lang

Seropositivity for CMV and IL-6 levels are associated with grip strength and muscle size in the elderly

Sarcopenia is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in older adults, with immunosenescence and inflammation being possible underlying mechanisms. We investigated the relationship between latent cytomeg...

Authors: Alixe HM Kilgour, Charlotte Firth, Rowan Harrison, Paul Moss, Mark E Bastin, Joanna M Wardlaw, Ian J Deary and John M Starr

Immunological and nutritional factors in elderly people in low-level care and their association with mortality

This study examines associations between markers of nutritional status and lymphocyte subsets and seeks to determine if lymphocyte profile is predictive of survival in elderly Australians residing in aged care...

Authors: Julie L Woods, Sandra Iuliano-Burns and Karen Z Walker

The interaction between gut microbiota and age-related changes in immune function and inflammation

Intestinal microbiota and gut immune systems interact each other, maintaining a condition of homeostasis in the context of the intestinal habitat. However, both systems undergo modifications in elderly, thus a...

Authors: Thea Magrone and Emilio Jirillo

Association of cytomegalovirus and other pathogens with frailty and diabetes mellitus, but not with cardiovascular disease and mortality in psycho-geriatric patients; a prospective cohort study

Studies about associations of infections with herpes viruses and other pathogens, such as Chlamydia pneumoniae (CP) and Helicobacter pylori (HP) with cardiovascular disease (CVD), diabetes mellitus (DM), frailty ...

Authors: Michiel B Haeseker, Evelien Pijpers, Nicole HTM Dukers-Muijrers, Patty Nelemans, Christian JPA Hoebe, Cathrien A Bruggeman, Annelies Verbon and Valère J Goossens

Cytokine and chemokine responses to helminth and protozoan parasites and to fungus and mite allergens in neonates, children, adults, and the elderly

In rural sub-Saharan Africa, endemic populations are often infected concurrently with several intestinal and intravascular helminth and protozoan parasites. A specific, balanced and, to an extent, protective i...

Authors: Christian J Lechner, Karl Komander, Jana Hegewald, Xiangsheng Huang, Richard G Gantin, Peter T Soboslay, Abram Agossou, Meba Banla and Carsten Köhler

Enhancement of mitochondrial biogenesis with polyphenols: combined effects of resveratrol and equol in human endothelial cells

Emerging evidence suggests that combinatorial action of numerous biologically active compounds may be a valuable source in a variety of therapeutic applications. Several nutraceuticals have demonstrated to aug...

Authors: Sergio Davinelli, Nadia Sapere, Manuela Visentin, Davide Zella and Giovanni Scapagnini

Expression of calpain-calpastatin system (CCS) member proteins in human lymphocytes of young and elderly individuals; pilot baseline data for the CALPACENT project

Ubiquitous system of regulatory, calcium-dependent, cytoplasmic proteases – calpains – and their endogenous inhibitor – calpastatin – is implicated in the proteolytic regulation of activation, proliferation, a...

Authors: Anna Mikosik, Jerzy Foerster, Aleksandra Jasiulewicz, Joanna Frąckowiak, Giuseppina Colonna-Romano, Matteo Bulati, Silvio Buffa, Adriana Martorana, Calogero Caruso, Ewa Bryl and Jacek M Witkowski

Age-associated alterations in γδ T-cells are present predominantly in individuals infected with Cytomegalovirus

Despite the common perception that latent Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is usually symptom-free, emerging epidemiological evidence suggests that it may in fact be associated with higher mortality over extend...

Authors: Kilian Wistuba-Hamprecht, Daniela Frasca, Bonnie Blomberg, Graham Pawelec and Evelyna Derhovanessian

Reactivation of immune responses against Mycobacterium tuberculosis by boosting with the CpG oligomer in aged mice primarily vaccinated with Mycobacterium bovis BCG

Mycobacterium bovis bacillus Calmette Guérin (BCG) vaccine, which has been inoculated to more than one billion people world-wide, has significant effect in preventing tuberculous meningitis and miliary tuberculos...

Authors: Keiichi Taniguchi, Takemasa Takii, Saburo Yamamoto, Jun-ichi Maeyama, Sumiko Iho, Mitsuo Maruyama, Narushi Iizuka, Yuriko Ozeki, Sohkichi Matsumoto, Tomohiro Hasegawa, Yuuji Miyatake, Saotomo Itoh and Kikuo Onozaki

NF-κB pathway activators as potential ageing biomarkers: targets for new therapeutic strategies

Chronic inflammation is a major biological mechanism underpinning biological ageing process and age-related diseases. Inflammation is also the key response of host defense against pathogens and tissue injury. ...

Authors: Carmela R Balistreri, Giuseppina Candore, Giulia Accardi, Giuseppina Colonna-Romano and Domenico Lio

Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) in dental and oral surgery: from the wound healing to bone regeneration

Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) is a new approach to tissue regeneration and it is becoming a valuable adjunct to promote healing in many procedures in dental and oral surgery, especially in aging patients. PRP der...

Authors: Antonino Albanese, Maria E Licata, Bianca Polizzi and Giuseppina Campisi

Proinflammatory profile of in vitro monocytes in the ageing is affected by lymphocytes presence

Aging is associated with complex and constant remodeling of the immune function, resulting in an increasing susceptibility to infection and others diseases. The infections caused by Gram-negative microorganism...

Authors: Karen Henriette Pinke, Bruno Calzavara, Patricia Freitas Faria, Magda Paula Pereira do Nascimento, James Venturini and Vanessa Soares Lara

Septic shock in older people: a prospective cohort study

Septic shock is the first cause of death in Intensive Care Units. Despite experimental data showing increased inflammatory response of aged animals following infection, the current accepted hypothesis claims t...

Authors: Fabiano Pinheiro da Silva, Fernando Godinho Zampieri, Denise Frediani Barbeiro, Hermes Vieira Barbeiro, Alessandra Carvalho Goulart, Francisco Torggler Filho, Irineu Tadeu Velasco, Luiz Monteiro da Cruz Neto, Heraldo Possolo de Souza and Marcel Cerqueira César Machado

Sex, gender and immunosenescence: a key to understand the different lifespan between men and women?

Authors: Calogero Caruso, Giulia Accardi, Claudia Virruso and Giuseppina Candore

Slower immune system aging in women versus men in the Japanese population

Gender-related differences in humans are commonly observed in behaviour, physical activity, disease, and lifespan. However, the notion that age-related changes in the immune system differ between men and women...

Authors: Katsuiku Hirokawa, Masanori Utsuyama, Yoshio Hayashi, Masanobu Kitagawa, Takashi Makinodan and Tamas Fulop

Passive anti-amyloid immunotherapy in Alzheimer's disease: What are the most promising targets?

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common dementia in the industrialized world, with prevalence rates well over 30% in the over 80-years-old population. The dementia causes enormous costs to the social healt...

Authors: Jens Moreth, Chrystelle Mavoungou and Katharina Schindowski

Bone marrow T cells from the femur are similar to iliac crest derived cells in old age and represent a useful tool for studying the aged immune system

CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T cells reside in the human bone marrow (BM) and show a heightened activation state. However, only small sample sizes are available from sources such as the iliac crest. Larger samples can be obtain...

Authors: Theresa Pritz, Katja Landgraf-Rauf, Dietmar Herndler-Brandstetter, Rauend Rauf, Julian Lair, Robert Gassner, Birgit Weinberger, Martin Krismer and Beatrix Grubeck-Loebenstein

Immunosenescence and gender: a study in healthy Cubans

The progressive decline in the immune function during ageing is termed immunosenescence. Previous studies have reported differences between males and females in the distribution and cell responses of lymphocyt...

Authors: Beatriz García Verdecia, Danay Saavedra Hernández, Patricia Lorenzo-Luaces, Teresita de Jesús Badía Alvarez, Idrissa Leonard Rupalé, Zaima Mazorra Herrera, Tania Crombet Ramos and Agustín Lage Dávila

Reviewer acknowledgment

Immunity & Ageing would like to thank the following for their assistance with peer review of manuscripts for the journal in 2012.

Authors: Calogero Caruso

Stress responses, vitagenes and hormesis as critical determinants in aging and longevity: Mitochondria as a “chi”

Understanding mechanisms of aging and determinants of life span will help to reduce age-related morbidity and facilitate healthy aging. Average lifespan has increased over the last centuries, as a consequence ...

Authors: Carolin Cornelius, Rosario Perrotta, Antonio Graziano, Edward J Calabrese and Vittorio Calabrese

Effects of age on H1N1-specific serum IgG1 and IgG3 levels evaluated during the 2011–2012 influenza vaccine season

We have previously reported an age-related impairment in the serum antibody response to pandemic (p)2009 H1N1, measured by hemagglutination inhibition assay and ELISA. The present study extends these observati...

Authors: Daniela Frasca, Alain Diaz, Maria Romero, Nicholas V Mendez, Ana Marie Landin and Bonnie B Blomberg

Immunosenescence in vertebrates and invertebrates

There is an established consensus that it is primarily the adaptive arm of immunity, and the T cell subset in particular, that is most susceptible to the deleterious changes with age known as “immunosenescence...

Authors: Ludmila Müller, Tamas Fülöp and Graham Pawelec

Toll like receptor signaling in “inflammaging”: microRNA as new players

The age-related changes of immune system functions are complex phenomena incompletely understood. The acquired immune system shows a functional decline in ability to respond to new pathogens during aging, wher...

Authors: Fabiola Olivieri, Maria Rita Rippo, Francesco Prattichizzo, Lucia Babini, Laura Graciotti, Rina Recchioni and Antonio Domenico Procopio

Pinpointing beta adrenergic receptor in ageing pathophysiology: victim or executioner? Evidence from crime scenes

G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) play a key role in cellular communication, allowing human cells to sense external cues or to talk each other through hormones or neurotransmitters. Research in this field ha...

Authors: Gaetano Santulli and Guido Iaccarino

Mast cells and the liver aging process

It has now ascertained that the clinical manifestations of liver disease in the elderly population reflect both the cumulative effects of longevity on the liver and the generalized senescence of the organism a...

Authors: Fabio Grizzi, Giuseppe Di Caro, Luigi Laghi, Paul Hermonat, Paolo Mazzola, Diane D Nguyen, Saba Radhi, Jose A Figueroa, Everardo Cobos, Giorgio Annoni and Maurizio Chiriva-Internati

Acute exercise decreases PTP-1B protein level and improves insulin signaling in the liver of old rats

It is now commonly accepted that chronic inflammation associated with obesity during aging induces insulin resistance in the liver. In the present study, we investigated whether the improvement in insulin sens...

Authors: Leandro Pereira de Moura, Luciana Santos Souza Pauli, Dennys Esper Cintra, Claudio Teodoro de Souza, Adelino Sanchez Ramos da Silva, Rodolfo Marinho, Maria Alice Rostom de Melo, Eduardo Rochete Ropelle and José Rodrigo Pauli