title: Altered immune status in the elderly.
abstract: The lung has an array of immunological defenses to protect itself against potentially invasive microorganisms, which include the immunoglobulin-rich alveolar lining fluid, alveolar macrophages, T lymphocytes, and polymorphonuclear neutrophils. Immunosenescence is a major predisposing factor to the increased incidence, morbidity, and mortality of pneumonia in the elderly. The progressive involution of the thymus gland in humans plays a pivotal role in the development of the immunodeficiency state characteristic of the older individual. Age takes its greatest toll on the cell-mediated arm of the immune system. Aged T cells are impaired in their ability to activate and proliferate in response to an antigen. This is partly due to age-associated structural and functional changes within the T cell. In addition, the ability of the T cell to secrete interleukin-2 (a cytokine necessary for the recruitment of other T cells) declines with age. The impaired antibody response of the elderly to foreign antigens, including the pneumococcal polysaccharide and the influenza vaccine, appears to be secondary to a deficiency of T helper cells. The macrophage functions well even in old age, but the recruitment of macrophages by senescent T cells is diminished. There also may be a blunted inflammatory response in the older individual secondary to impaired polymorphonuclear neutrophils chemotaxis and phagocytosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Pennsylvania State University, Hershey 17033.
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Simons
authors.forename: H Y
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Reynolds
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000276:immunology*; D000917:Antibody Formation; D006801:Humans; D007111:Immunity, Cellular; D007249:Inflammation / Q000276:immunology; D008168:Lung / Q000276:immunology*; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000276:immunology