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Review on immunosenescence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2007

Lia Ginaldi*
Affiliation:
Department of Internal Medicine and Public Health, L'Aquila University, Italy
Lucia Paola Mengoli
Affiliation:
Department of Internal Medicine and Public Health, L'Aquila University, Italy
Massimo De Martinis
Affiliation:
Department of Internal Medicine and Public Health, L'Aquila University, Italy
*
Address for correspondence: Professor Lia Ginaldi, Dept. of Internal Medicine & Public Health, University of L'Aquila, Via Vetoio – Coppito, 67100 L'Aquila, ITALY

Extract

The improvements of socio-environmental conditions, medical care and quality of life have caused a general improvement in the health status of the population and a consequent reduction of morbidity and mortality, resulting in an overall increased life-expectancy. The role of immunosenescence was negligible in the past, when the human lifespan was 40–50 years, and its impact on morbidity and mortality has emerged in combination with the extension of lifespan. Immunosenescence results from multifactorial processes that act on all components of the immune system. The changes associated with immunosenescence are playing an increasingly important role in the emergence of a series of age-related pathologies, conditioning the present epidemiology of old people.

Type
Biological gerontology
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

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