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Graham Pawelec
University of Tüebingen

About this book

Human immunosenescence contributes to morbidity and mortality in later life. The age-associated increasing incidence of cancer and cardiovascular disease plateaus at around 80 years of age in industrialised countries, but death due to infectious disease continues to increase up to 100 years of age and beyond. Understanding the reasons for age-associated alterations to protective immunity in the elderly would facilitate the development of interventions to reconstitute appropriate immune function, increase responsiveness to vaccination and extend healthspan. The majority of the papers collected in this volume therefore address not only the mechanisms responsible for immune ageing in humans but consider what might be accomplished to redress the erosion of immune competence with age.

Table of contents

1. Immune Risk Phenotypes and Associated Parameters in Very Old Humans:
A Review of Findings in the Swedish NONA Immune Longitudinal Study
Anders Wikby, Frederick Ferguson, Jan Strindhall, Rosalyn J. Forsey, Tamas Fulop,
Sine Reker Hadrup, Per thor Straten, Graham Pawelec and Boo Johansson

2. Scoring of Immunological Vigor: Trial Assessment of Immunological Status
as a Whole for Elderly People and Cancer Patients
Katsuiku Hirokawa, Masanori Utsuyama, Yuko Kikuchi and Masanobu Kitagawa

3. Remodelling of the CD8 T-Cell Compartment in the Elderly: Expression
of NK Associated Receptors on T-Cells Is Associated with the Expansion
of the Effector Memory Subset
Inmaculada Gayoso, M. Luisa Pita, Esther Peralbo, Corona Alonso, Olga DelaRosa,
Javier G. Casado, Julian de la Torre-Cisneros, Raquel Tarazona and Rafael Solana

4. Telomeres, Telomerase and CD28 in Human CD8 T-cells: Effects on Immunity
during Aging and HIV Infection
Steven R. Fauce and Rita B. Effros

5. A Matter of Life and Death of T-Lymphocytes in Immunosenescence
Sudhir Gupta

6. T-Cell Signalling, a Complex Process for T-Cell Activation Compromised
with Aging: When Membrane Rafts Can Simplify Everything
Tamas Fulop, Graham Pawelec, Carl Fortin, Anis Larbi

7. Immunosenescence, Thymic Involution and Autoimmunity
Wayne A. Mitchell and Richard Aspinall

8. Autoimmune Diseases, Aging and the CD4⁺ Lymphocyte:
Why Does Insulin-Dependent Diabetes Mellitus Start in Youth, but Rheumatoid
Arthritis Mostly at Older Age?
Jacek M. Witkowski

9. Role of Chemokines and Chemokine Receptors in Diseases of Ageing
Erminia Mariani, Adriana Rita Mariani and Andrea Facchini

10. The Efficacy of Vaccines to Prevent Infectious Diseases in the Elderly
Dietmar Herndler-Brandstetter and Beatrix Grubeck-Loebenstein

11. Zinc and the Altered Immune System in the Elderly
Hajo Haase and Lothar Rink

12. Zinc-Binding Proteins and Immunosenescence: Implications as Biological
and Genetic Markers
Eugenio Mocchegiani and Marco Malavolta

13. Immunogenetics of Aging
Elissaveta J. Naumova and Milena I. Ivanova

14. The Genetics of Innate Immunity and Inflammation in Ageing,
Age-Related Diseases and Longevity
Calogero Caruso, Carmela Rita Balistreri, Antonino Crivello, Giusi Irma Forte,
Maria Paola Grimaldi, Florinda Listì, Letizia Scola, Sonya Vasto and Giuseppina Candore

15. SELDI Proteomics Approach to Identify Proteins Associated with T-Cell
Clone Senescence
Dawn J. Mazzatti, Robin Longdin, Graham Pawelec, Jonathan R. Powell
and Rosalyn J. Forsey