UConn Center on Aging and Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, University of Connecticut, Farmington, CT, United States.
Front Immunol. 2022 Aug 31;13:1006710. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.1006710. eCollection 2022.
Aging results in systemic changes that leave older adults at much higher risk for adverse outcomes following respiratory infections. Much work has been done over the years to characterize and describe the varied changes that occur with aging from the molecular/cellular up to the organismal level. In recent years, the systemic accumulation of senescent cells has emerged as a key mediator of many age-related declines and diseases of aging. Many of these age-related changes can impair the normal function of the respiratory system and its capability to respond appropriately to potential pathogens that are encountered daily. In this review, we aim to establish the effects of cellular senescence on the disruption of normal lung function with aging and describe how these effects compound to leave an aged respiratory system at great risk when exposed to a pathogen. We will also discuss the role cellular senescence may play in the inability of most vaccines to confer protection against respiratory infections when administered to older adults. We posit that cellular senescence may be the point of convergence of many age-related immunological declines. Enhanced investigation into this area could provide much needed insight to understand the aging immune system and how to effectively ameliorate responses to pathogens that continue to disproportionately harm this vulnerable population.
衰老是全身性的改变，这使得老年人在呼吸道感染后出现不良后果的风险大大增加。多年来，人们已经做了大量的工作来描述和描述从分子/细胞到机体水平的衰老过程中发生的各种变化。近年来，衰老细胞的系统性积累已成为许多与年龄相关的衰退和衰老疾病的关键介质。许多这些与年龄相关的变化可能会损害呼吸系统的正常功能及其对日常遇到的潜在病原体的适当反应能力。在这篇综述中，我们旨在确定细胞衰老对正常肺功能随年龄增长而中断的影响，并描述这些影响如何累积，使老年呼吸系统在接触病原体时面临巨大风险。我们还将讨论细胞衰老在大多数疫苗接种到老年人时无法提供针对呼吸道感染的保护作用中可能发挥的作用。我们假设细胞衰老可能是许多与年龄相关的免疫衰退的交汇点。深入研究这一领域可能会为理解衰老免疫系统以及如何有效改善对继续不成比例地伤害这一脆弱人群的病原体的反应提供急需的见解。
