Articles

Role of persistent CMV infection in configuring T cell immunity in the elderly

Ageing is associated with declines in many physiological parameters, including multiple immune system functions. The rate of acceleration of the frequency of death due to cardiovascular disease or cancer seems...

Authors: Sonya Vasto, Giuseppina Colonna-Romano, Anis Larbi, Anders Wikby, Calogero Caruso and Graham Pawelec

The Interleukin-6 inflammation pathway from cholesterol to aging – Role of statins, bisphosphonates and plant polyphenols in aging and age-related diseases

We describe the inflammation pathway from Cholesterol to Aging. Interleukin 6 mediated inflammation is implicated in age-related disorders including Atherosclerosis, Peripheral Vascular Disease, Coronary Arter...

Authors: Sota Omoigui

Is inflammaging an auto[innate]immunity subclinical syndrome?

The low-grade, chronic, systemic inflammatory state that characterizes the aging process (inflammaging) results from late evolutive-based expression of the innate immune system. Inflammaging is characterized b...

Authors: Sergio Giunta

Large scale analysis of pediatric antiviral CD8+ T cell populations reveals sustained, functional and mature responses

Cellular immunity plays a crucial role in cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection and substantial populations of CMV-specific T cells accumulate throughout life. However, although CMV infection occurs during childhood...

Authors: Haruki Komatsu, Ayano Inui, Tsuyoshi Sogo, Tomoo Fujisawa, Hironori Nagasaka, Shigeaki Nonoyama, Sophie Sierro, John Northfield, Michaela Lucas, Anita Vargas and Paul Klenerman

Ageing is associated with a decline in peripheral blood CD56^bright NK cells

Natural killer (NK) cells are cytotoxic lymphocytes that lack CD3 and express variable levels of CD16, CD56 and CD57. In recent years NK cells have been categorised into two major groups based on the level of ...

Authors: Shivani M Chidrawar, Naeem Khan, Y L Tracey Chan, Laxman Nayak and Paul AH Moss

The effects of long-term endurance training on the immune and endocrine systems of elderly men: the role of cytokines and anabolic hormones

a decline in immune and endocrine function occurs with aging. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of long-term endurance training on the immune and endocrine system of elderly men. The...

Authors: Milton Hideaki Arai, Alberto JS Duarte and Valéria Maria Natale

Flow-cytometric assessment of cellular poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation capacity in peripheral blood lymphocytes

Poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation is a posttranslational modification of nuclear proteins catalysed by poly(ADP-ribose) polymerases (PARPs), using NAD⁺ as a substrate. Activation of PARP-1 is in immediate response to DNA da...

Authors: Andrea Kunzmann, Dan Liu, Kathryn Annett, Muriel Malaisé, Bastian Thaa, Paul Hyland, Yvonne Barnett and Alexander Bürkle

Electrophoresis of proteins and DNA on horizontal sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gels

An inexpensive Plexiglas apparatus which allows a simple and rapid preparation of horizontal polyacrylamide gels of different dimensions for different purposes, is described. Preparation of such gels is as eas...

Authors: Vincenzo Izzo, Maria A Costa, Renata Di Fiore, Giovanni Duro, Daniele Bellavia, Eleonora Cascone, Paolo Colombo, Maria C Gioviale and Rainer Barbieri

Zinc, oxidative stress, genetic background and immunosenescence: implications for healthy ageing

The relevance of zinc for proper functioning of the entire immune system is already well documented. However, the identification of individuals who really need zinc supplementation is still debated in view of ...

Authors: Eugenio Mocchegiani, Marco Malavolta, Fiorella Marcellini and Graham Pawelec

A paradox of immunodeficiency and inflammation in human aging: lessons learned from apoptosis

Aging is associated with a paradox of immunodeficiency and inflammation (an evidence of hyperactive immune system). Apoptosis is associated with cellular depletion and suppression of inflammatory response. In ...

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

Iterleukin 1 alpha is a marker of endothelial cellular senescent

The functional changes associated with endothelial senescence may be involved in human aging and age-related vascular disorders. Since the inflammatory cytokine interleukin (IL-)1 inhibits endothelial growth, ...

Authors: Massimo Mariotti, Sara Castiglioni, Daniela Bernardini and Jeanette AM Maier

Systemic inflammatory response in erderly patients following hernioplastical operation

The number of old and oldest old patients undergoing surgery of varying severity is increasing. Ageing is a process that changes the performances of most physiological systems and increases susceptibility to d...

Authors: Gaetano Di Vita, Carmela Rita Balistreri, Francesco Arcoleo, Salvatore Buscemi, Enrico Cillari, Marcello Donati, Maria Garofalo, Florinda Listì, Maria Paola Grimaldi, Rosalia Patti and Giuseppina Candore

Age and immunity

Longitudinal studies are defining progressive alterations to the immune system associated with increased mortality in the very elderly. Many of these changes are exacerbated by or even caused by chronic T cell...

Authors: Sonya Vasto, Marco Malavolta and Graham Pawelec

A Need to Study the Immune Status of Frail Older Adults

Authors: Steven C Castle, Koichi Uyemura, Tamas Fulop, Katsuiku Hirokawa and Takashi Makinodan

Melatonin, immune function and aging

Aging is associated with a decline in immune function (immunosenescence), a situation known to correlate with increased incidence of cancer, infectious and degenerative diseases. Innate, cellular and humoral i...

Authors: V Srinivasan, GJM Maestroni, DP Cardinali, AI Esquifino, SR Pandi Perumal and SC Miller

Immunosenescence and Vaccination

The problems associated with the ageing immune system and vaccination were discussed recently at an international workshop at the Jenner Institute for Vaccine Research, Compton, UK, 6–7 October, 2005. This is ...

Authors: Graham Pawelec

Constitutive degradation of IκBα in human T lymphocytes is mediated by calpain

Activation-induced induction of transcription factor NFκB in T lymphocytes is regulated by its inhibitor IκBα. NFκB activation has been demonstrated to occur either by phosphorylation on serine residues 32 and...

Authors: Subramaniam Ponnappan, Sarah J Cullen and Usha Ponnappan

Osteoporosis, inflammation and ageing

Osteoporosis is a condition characterized by low bone mass and increased bone fragility, putting patients at risk of fractures, which are major causes of morbidity substantially in older people. Osteoporosis i...

Authors: Lia Ginaldi, Maria Cristina Di Benedetto and Massimo De Martinis

Human leukocyte antigen class I, class II, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha polymorphisms in a healthy elder Mexican Mestizo population

There is strong evidence that an individual's genetic background is an important predisposing factor to longevity. In the present study we analysed the frequency of HLA class I, class II, as well as the TNF-α ...

Authors: Elena Soto-Vega, Yvonne Richaud-Patin and Luis Llorente

Life and death of lymphocytes: a role in immunesenescence

Human aging is associated with progressive decline in immune functions, increased frequency of infections. Among immune functions, a decline in T cell functions during aging predominates. In this review, we wi...

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

Heparan sulfate proteoglycan induces the production of NO and TNF-α by murine microglia

A common feature of Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathology is the abundance of activated microglia in neuritic plaques containing amyloid-beta protein (Aβ) and associated molecules including heparan sulfate proteo...

Authors: Simona Bussini, Lucia Meda, Elio Scarpini, Emilio Clementi, Giancarlo Conti, Marco Tiriticco, Nereo Bresolin and Pierluigi Baron

Immune response to pneumococcal polysaccharides 4 and 14 in elderly and young adults. I Antibody concentrations, avidity and functional activity

Streptococcus pneumoniae is a serious worldwide pathogen and the focus of numerous vaccine development projects. Currently the most widely accepted surrogate marker for evaluating the efficacy of a given vaccine ...

Authors: Kris Kolibab, S Louise Smithson, Anne K Shriner, Sadik Khuder, Sandra Romero-Steiner, George M Carlone and MA Julie Westerink

Total and specific serum IgE decreases with age in patients with allergic rhinitis, asthma and insect allergy but not in patients with atopic dermatitis

Concerning allergic diseases, the incidence of allergic symptoms, as well as their severity, seems to decrease with age. The decline of onset of allergic symptoms observed in ageing might result from a decreas...

Authors: Anja Mediaty and Karsten Neuber

Innate immunity and inflammation in ageing: a key for understanding age-related diseases

The process of maintaining life for the individual is a constant struggle to preserve his/her integrity. This can come at a price when immunity is involved, namely systemic inflammation. Inflammation is not pe...

Authors: Federico Licastro, Giuseppina Candore, Domenico Lio, Elisa Porcellini, Giuseppina Colonna-Romano, Claudio Franceschi and Calogero Caruso

Roy Walford and the immunologic theory of aging

Roy Walford died on April 27, 2004, at the age of 79. His contributions to gerontological research in such diverse areas as caloric restriction, genetics of lifespan, immunosenescence, DNA repair and replicati...

Authors: Rita B Effros

The role of the MAPK pathway alterations in GM-CSF modulated human neutrophil apoptosis with aging

Neutrophils represent the first line of defence against aggressions. The programmed death of neutrophils is delayed by pro-inflammatory stimuli to ensure a proper resolution of the inflammation in time and pla...

Authors: Anis Larbi, Nadine Douziech, Carl Fortin, Annie Linteau, Gilles Dupuis and Tamas Fulop Jr

Ageing and the immune system in vivo: commentary on the 16th session of British Society for Immunology Annual Congress, Harrogate, December 2004

The problems associated with the ageing immune system coupled with possible solutions were discussed recently at the British Society for Immunology Annual Congress in Harrogate in December 2004. The session "A...

Authors: Richard Aspinall

Direct analysis of thymic function in children with Down's syndrome

Down's syndrome (DS) is characterized by several immunological defects, especially regarding T cell compartment. DS is considered the best example of accelerated ageing in humans. Direct observations of the th...

Authors: Nicole Prada, Milena Nasi, Leonarda Troiano, Erika Roat, Marcello Pinti, Elisa Nemes, Enrico Lugli, Roberta Ferraresi, Luigi Ciacci, Davide Bertoni, Ornella Biagioni, Milena Gibertoni, Cristina Cornia, Liviana Meschiari, Elisabetta Gramazio, Mauro Mariotti…

LDL receptor expression on T lymphocytes in old patients with Down syndrome

In Down syndrome patients several metabolic abnormalities have been reported, some involving the lipid metabolism. The level of LDL in plasma is the major determinant of the risk of vascular disease. There app...

Authors: Massimiliano M Corsi, Alexis E Malavazos, Daniele Passoni and Federico Licastro

Circulating γδ T cells in young/adult and old patients with cutaneous primary melanoma

In a previous study we demonstrated the existence of numerical and functional alterations of γδ T cells in healthy elderly. Recently, we analysed the involvement of γδ T lymphocytes in malignant melanoma, desc...

Authors: Francesca Re, Alessia Donnini, Beatrice Bartozzi, Giovanni Bernardini and Mauro Provinciali

Inflammatory peptides derived from adipose tissue

The low-grade inflammation seen with aging is noted particularly in subjects with the metabolic syndrome of aging. Insulin resistance, obesity/abdominal obesity, and risks for many age-related diseases charact...

Authors: Eric Rudin and Nir Barzilai

+874(T→A) single nucleotide gene polymorphism does not represent a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease

In the recent years, several cytokines have been associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD) development and progression and many studies have correlated this risk with polymorphisms in the genes encoding these m...

Authors: Lorenza Galimberti, Beatrice Arosio, Carmen Calabresi, Silvia Scurati, Susanna Hamilton, Simona Delli Carpini, Carlo Vergani and Giorgio Annoni

Are zinc-bound metallothionein isoforms (I+II and III) involved in impaired thymulin production and thymic involution during ageing?

With advancing age, thymic efficiency shows progressive decline due to thymic involution allowing impaired cell-mediated immunity and the appearance of age-related diseases. The intrinsic cause of thymic invol...

Authors: Eugenio Mocchegiani, Robertina Giacconi, Catia Cipriano, Elisa Muti, Nazzarena Gasparini and Marco Malavolta

Association between monocyte Fcγ subclass expression and acute coronary syndrome

Atherosclerosis lesions contain abundant immunoglobulins complexed with oxidized LDL (OxLDL) that are endocytosed by macrophages to form foam cells. While recent evidence supports a role for the macrophage sca...

Authors: David C Calverley, Taya Varteresian, Elizabeth Brass, Denice D Tsao-Wei, Susan Groshen, Wendy J Mack, Thomas A Buchanan, Howard N Hodis and Alan D Schreiber

Is immunotherapy an effective treatment for Alzheimer's disease?

Immunotherapy in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) is rapidly becoming a hot topic of modern geriatric and clinical gerontology. Current views see immunization with Aβ peptide, the amyloidogenic protein f...

Authors: Federico Licastro and Calogero Caruso

The immunotherapy of Alzheimer's disease

Only a small percentage of patients with Alzheimer's disease benefit from current drug therapy and for only a relatively short time. This is not surprising as the goal of these drugs is to enhance existing cer...

Authors: Marc E Weksler

Immunity & Ageing: a new journal looking at ageing from an immunological point of view

In the elderly, many alterations of both innate and clonotypic immunity have been described. Alterations to the immune system in the elderly are generally viewed as a deterioration of immunity, leading to the ...

Authors: Sonya Vasto and Calogero Caruso