[The immune system characteristics during normal aging and in Alzheimer's disease].

The paper presents a review of data available in the literature and the authors' own findings on age-related physiology and pathology of the immune system. Almost all parameters characterizing the functional activity of the immune system in Alzheimer's disease (AD) were demonstrated to significantly differ from those in the healthy elderly, The magnitude of immunological changes clearly correlated with the severity of dementia in AD patients. A hypothesis of the gradual development of immunological changes in an AD patient in relation to his dementia formation is given.