Calorie restriction and susceptibility to intact pathogens

Abstract

Long-term calorie restriction (CR) causes numerous physiological changes that ultimately increase mean and maximum lifespan of most species examined to date. One physiological change that occurs with CR is enhanced immune function, as tested using antigens and mitogens to stimulate an immune response. Fewer studies have used intact pathogen exposure to test whether the enhanced capacity of the immune response during CR actually decreases susceptibility of hosts to their pathogens. So far, studies using intact bacteria, virus, and helminth worm exposure indicate that, despite similar or enhanced immune system function, CR hosts are more susceptible to infection by intact pathogens than their fully fed counterparts. Long-term CR studies that examine susceptibility to a variety of parasite taxa will help determine if direct CR or CR mimetics will be beneficial to people living in pathogen-rich environments.