Boule Lisbeth A, Kovacs Elizabeth J
Department of Surgery, Division of GI, Trauma, and Endocrine Surgery (GITES), University of Colorado Denver, Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, Colorado, USA;
The Mucosal Inflammation Program (MIP), University of Colorado Denver, Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, Colorado, USA.
J Leukoc Biol. 2017 Jul;102(1):41-55. doi: 10.1189/jlb.4RU1016-450R. Epub 2017 May 18.
The global population is aging: in 2010, 8% of the population was older than 65 y, and that is expected to double to 16% by 2050. With advanced age comes a heightened prevalence of chronic diseases. Moreover, elderly humans fair worse after acute diseases, namely infection, leading to higher rates of infection-mediated mortality. Advanced age alters many aspects of both the innate and adaptive immune systems, leading to impaired responses to primary infection and poor development of immunologic memory. An often overlooked, yet increasingly common, behavior in older individuals is alcohol consumption. In fact, it has been estimated that >40% of older adults consume alcohol, and evidence reveals that >10% of this group is drinking more than the recommended limit by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Alcohol consumption, at any level, alters host immune responses, including changes in the number, phenotype, and function of innate and adaptive immune cells. Thus, understanding the effect of alcohol ingestion on the immune system of older individuals, who are already less capable of combating infection, merits further study. However, there is currently almost nothing known about how drinking alters innate immunity in older subjects, despite innate immune cells being critical for host defense, resolution of inflammation, and maintenance of immune homeostasis. Here, we review the effects of aging and alcohol consumption on innate immune cells independently and highlight the few studies that have examined the effects of alcohol ingestion in aged individuals.
2010年，8%的人口年龄超过65岁，预计到2050年这一比例将翻倍至16%。随着年龄的增长，慢性病的患病率也会升高。此外，老年人在患急性疾病（即感染）后情况更糟，导致感染介导的死亡率更高。高龄会改变固有免疫系统和适应性免疫系统的许多方面，导致对初次感染的反应受损以及免疫记忆发育不良。老年人中一种经常被忽视但越来越普遍的行为是饮酒。事实上，据估计超过40%的老年人饮酒，而且有证据表明，该群体中超过10%的人饮酒量超过了美国国立酒精滥用与酒精中毒研究所建议的限量。任何水平的饮酒都会改变宿主免疫反应，包括固有免疫细胞和适应性免疫细胞的数量、表型及功能的变化。因此，了解饮酒对已经不太能抵抗感染的老年人免疫系统的影响值得进一步研究。然而，尽管固有免疫细胞对宿主防御、炎症消退和免疫稳态维持至关重要，但目前几乎没有人了解饮酒如何改变老年受试者的固有免疫。在此，我们分别综述衰老和饮酒对固有免疫细胞的影响，并着重介绍少数几项研究了饮酒对老年个体影响的研究。
