An evolutionary perspective on the mechanisms of immunosenescence

There is an accumulating body of evidence that a decline in immune function with age is common to most if not all vertebrates. For instance, age-associated thymic involution seems to occur in all species that possess a thymus, indicating that this process is evolutionary ancient and conserved. The p...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Trends in immunology Vol. 30; no. 7; pp. 374 - 381
Main Authors:	Shanley, Daryl P, Aw, Danielle, Manley, Nancy R, Palmer, Donald B
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	England Elsevier Ltd 01-07-2009 Elsevier Limited
Subjects:	Age Aging Aging - immunology Aging - metabolism Allergy and Immunology Animals Biological Evolution Genetic engineering Humans Immune system Immunity, Innate Insects Mutation Reproduction - immunology T-Lymphocyte Subsets - immunology T-Lymphocyte Subsets - metabolism Thymus Gland - immunology Thymus Gland - metabolism
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Summary:	There is an accumulating body of evidence that a decline in immune function with age is common to most if not all vertebrates. For instance, age-associated thymic involution seems to occur in all species that possess a thymus, indicating that this process is evolutionary ancient and conserved. The precise mechanisms regulating immunosenescence remain to be resolved, but much of what we do know is consistent with modern evolutionary theory. In this review, we assess our current knowledge from an evolutionary perspective on the occurrence of immunosenescence, we show that life history trade-offs play a key role and we highlight the possible advantages of the age-related decline in thymic function.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 ObjectType-Article-2 ObjectType-Feature-3 ObjectType-Review-1
ISSN:	1471-4906 1471-4981
DOI:	10.1016/j.it.2009.05.001