Abstract
Over the past century, human life expectancy has doubled in developed countries and is continuing to increase at a rate of 2 years per decade. However, although life expectancy has increased, advanced age is accompanied by an increase in susceptibility towards infection and development of chronic illnesses that have a negative impact on an individual’s quality of life. Even adults considered to have undergone healthy ageing show a significant decline in immune competence, termed immunosenescence, which is responsible for the increased rate of infections with advancing age (DiCarlo et al., Trends Immunol 30:293–294, 2009). Recent studies have also reported a reduced ability to mount a robust immune response to vaccination, combat new pathogens or maintain immunity to persistent infections such as Herpes zoster in older adults (Gavazzi G, Krause KH (2002b) Ageing and infection. Lancet Infect Dis 2:659–666; Trzonkowski P, Mysliwska J, Pawelec G, Mysliwski A (2009) From bench to bedside and back: the SENIEUR Protocol and the efficacy of influenza vaccination in the elderly. Biogerontol 10:83–94; Weinberger B, Herndler-Brandstetter D, Schwanninger A, Weiskopf D, Grubeck-Loebenstein B (2008) Biology of immune responses to vaccines in elderly persons. Clin Infect Dis 46:1078–1084). Delaying or reversing the effects of ageing on the immune system may therefore be extremely beneficial to the health and quality of life of the elderly population (Dorshkind K, Montecino-Rodriguez E, Signer RA (2009) The ageing immune system: Is it ever too old to become young again? Nat Rev Immunol 9:57–62).
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Niharika Duggal is supported by a grant from the United Kingdom cross-research council initiative New Dynamics of Ageing.
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Duggal, N.A., Lord, J.M. (2013). Introduction to Ageing of the Innate Immune System. In: Bosch, J., Phillips, A., Lord, J. (eds) Immunosenescence. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-4776-4_1
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