Immune system aging is tied to chronic inflammation and disease risk
In short: A review of immunosenescence research describes how the immune system's decline with age, known as immunosenescence, is linked to greater susceptibility to infections, poor vaccine response, and cancer. The review highlights a related state called inflammaging, chronic low-level inflammation that is considered a major risk factor for age-related diseases.
The review describes key features of this decline, including shrinkage of the thymus and an imbalanced ratio of naive to memory immune cells. It explains that senescent immune cells secrete inflammatory signals that further fuel inflammaging, and that senescent T cells may be a major driving force behind the whole process.
As a literature review rather than new experimental data, it summarizes existing findings rather than testing them directly, and notes that because few older adults take part in cancer immunotherapy trials, immunosenescence's effect on treatment outcomes remains unclear.
Why it matters: Understanding how the immune system changes with age could help explain why older adults face higher risks of infection and disease.
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Sources
- Source: Research: Liu et al. (2023). Immunosenescence: molecular mechanisms and diseases. Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy. · cc-by
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