Abstract
Aging is accompanied by remodeling of the immune system. With time, this leads to a decline in immune efficacy, resulting in increased vulnerability to infectious diseases, diminished responses to vaccination, and a susceptibility to age-related inflammatory diseases. An age-associated immune alteration, extensively reported in previous studies, is the reduction in the number of peripheral blood naïve cells, with a relative increase in the frequency of memory cells. These two alterations, together with inflamm-aging, are considered the hallmarks of immunosenescence. Because aging is a plastic process, it is influenced by both nutritional and pharmacological interventions. Therefore, the role of nutrition and of immunomodulation in immunosenescence is discussed, due to the multifactorial influence on these hallmarks. The close connection between nutrition, intake of bioactive nutrients and supplements, immune function, and inflammation demonstrate the key role of dietary strategies as regulators of immune response and inflammatory status, hence as possible modulators of the rate of immunosenescence. In addition, potential options for therapeutic intervention are clarified. In particular, the use of interleukin-7 as growth factor for naïve T cells, the function of checkpoint inhibitors in improving T cell responses during aging and, the potential of drugs that inhibit mitogen-activated protein kinases and their interaction with nutrient signaling pathways are discussed. Finally, it is suggested that the inclusion of appropriate combinations of toll-like receptor agonists may enhance the efficacy of vaccination in older adults.
Highlights
The increase in lifespan does not coincide with increase in healthspan
The link between aging and disease is in part a reflection of the functional changes in the immune system of older people
Different factors contribute to the development of age-related immune dysfunction, but the epilog of an aged immune system is an increased propensity toward a reduced resistance to infection, poorer responses to vaccination, and the development of age-related diseases
Summary
Aging process more extensively affects acquired immunity than innate immunity [3, 5] Several factors, such as genetics, nutrition, exercise, previous exposure to microorganisms, biological and cultural sex, and human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) status can influence immunosenescence [3, 6,7,8,9,10,11]. A few studies have analyzed the post-menopausal immune system [12] It is unclear whether age-related changes in the immune system are different between men and women, some data show that immunosenescence develops earlier in men than in women. At the end of conclusion, we will outline possible future approaches
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