title: Cellular signaling in the aging immune system.
abstract: Causes for immunosenescence and inflamm-aging have to be established. Efficient function of the immune system requires homeostatic regulation from receptor recognition of antigenic challenge to cell responses and adaptation to its changing environment. It is reasonable to assume that one of the most important molecular causes of immunosenescence is alteration in the regulation of signaling pathways. Indeed, alterations in feed-forward and negative feedback (inhibitory) signaling have been highlighted in all cells involved in the immune response including short-lived (neutrophils) and long-lived (T lymphocytes) cells. These dysregulations tip the balance in favor of altered (less efficient) function of the immune system. In this review, we summarize our knowledge on signal transduction changes in the aging immune system and propose a unifying mechanism as one of the causes of immunosenescence. Modulation of these pathways with aging represents a major challenge to restore the immune response to functional levels.
authors.affiliation: Research Center on Aging, Department of Medicine, Graduate Program in Immunology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, QC, Canada. Electronic address: tamas.fulop@usherbrooke.ca.
authors.forename: Tamas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fulop
authors.affiliation: Research Center on Aging, Department of Medicine, Graduate Program in Immunology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, QC, Canada.
authors.forename: Aurélie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Le Page
authors.affiliation: Research Center on Aging, Department of Medicine, Graduate Program in Immunology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, QC, Canada.
authors.forename: Carl
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fortin
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathophysiology, Medical University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland.
authors.forename: Jacek M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Witkowski
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Graduate Program in Immunology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, QC, Canada.
authors.forename: Gilles
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Dupuis
authors.affiliation: Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN), Immunos Building at Biopolis, Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), 8A Biomedical Grove, Singapore 138648, Singapore.
authors.forename: Anis
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Larbi
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000276:immunology*; D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D009504:Neutrophils / Q000276:immunology*; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D011948:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell / Q000276:immunology; D015398:Signal Transduction; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D011948:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell