Challenges for vaccination in the elderly
<p>Abstract</p> <p>The increased susceptibility of the elderly to infection presents a major challenge to public health services. An aging immune system is well documented as the cause of increased infection rates in elderly people. Such immunosenescence is multi-factorial and inco...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
BMC
2007-12-01
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| Series: | Immunity & Ageing |
| Online Access: | http://www.immunityageing.com/content/4/1/9 |
| _version_ | 1818471242584293376 |
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| author | Grubeck-Loebenstein Beatrix Effros Rita B Del Giudice Giuseppe Aspinall Richard Sambhara Suryaprakash |
| author_facet | Grubeck-Loebenstein Beatrix Effros Rita B Del Giudice Giuseppe Aspinall Richard Sambhara Suryaprakash |
| author_sort | Grubeck-Loebenstein Beatrix |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | <p>Abstract</p> <p>The increased susceptibility of the elderly to infection presents a major challenge to public health services. An aging immune system is well documented as the cause of increased infection rates in elderly people. Such immunosenescence is multi-factorial and incompletely understood. Immunosenescent changes include malfunctioning of innate immune system cellular receptors; involution of the thymus, with consequent reduction of the naïve T cell population; alteration of the T cell population composition; modified phenotypes of individual T cells; and replicative senescence of memory cells expressing naïve markers. Unfortunately, immunosenescence also renders vaccination less effective in the elderly. It is therefore important that the vaccines used against common but preventable diseases, such as influenza, are specifically enhanced to overcome the reduced immune responsiveness of this vulnerable population.</p> |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-14T03:48:35Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-187960829f1841a0a319d07f42026665 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1742-4933 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-14T03:48:35Z |
| publishDate | 2007-12-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Immunity & Ageing |
| spelling | doaj.art-187960829f1841a0a319d07f420266652022-12-22T02:14:07ZengBMCImmunity & Ageing1742-49332007-12-0141910.1186/1742-4933-4-9Challenges for vaccination in the elderlyGrubeck-Loebenstein BeatrixEffros Rita BDel Giudice GiuseppeAspinall RichardSambhara Suryaprakash<p>Abstract</p> <p>The increased susceptibility of the elderly to infection presents a major challenge to public health services. An aging immune system is well documented as the cause of increased infection rates in elderly people. Such immunosenescence is multi-factorial and incompletely understood. Immunosenescent changes include malfunctioning of innate immune system cellular receptors; involution of the thymus, with consequent reduction of the naïve T cell population; alteration of the T cell population composition; modified phenotypes of individual T cells; and replicative senescence of memory cells expressing naïve markers. Unfortunately, immunosenescence also renders vaccination less effective in the elderly. It is therefore important that the vaccines used against common but preventable diseases, such as influenza, are specifically enhanced to overcome the reduced immune responsiveness of this vulnerable population.</p>http://www.immunityageing.com/content/4/1/9 |
| spellingShingle | Grubeck-Loebenstein Beatrix Effros Rita B Del Giudice Giuseppe Aspinall Richard Sambhara Suryaprakash Challenges for vaccination in the elderly Immunity & Ageing |
| title | Challenges for vaccination in the elderly |
| title_full | Challenges for vaccination in the elderly |
| title_fullStr | Challenges for vaccination in the elderly |
| title_full_unstemmed | Challenges for vaccination in the elderly |
| title_short | Challenges for vaccination in the elderly |
| title_sort | challenges for vaccination in the elderly |
| url | http://www.immunityageing.com/content/4/1/9 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT grubeckloebensteinbeatrix challengesforvaccinationintheelderly AT effrosritab challengesforvaccinationintheelderly AT delgiudicegiuseppe challengesforvaccinationintheelderly AT aspinallrichard challengesforvaccinationintheelderly AT sambharasuryaprakash challengesforvaccinationintheelderly |