title: Role of Immune Aging in Susceptibility to West Nile Virus.
abstract: West Nile virus (WNV) can cause severe neuroinvasive disease in humans and currently no vaccine or specific treatments are available. As aging is the most prominent risk factor for WNV, age-related immune dysregulation likely plays an essential role in host susceptibility to infection with WNV. In this review, we summarize recent findings in effects of aging on immune responses to WNV infection. In particular, we focus on the age-dependent dysregulation of innate immune cell types-neutrophils, macrophages, and dendritic cells-in response to WNV infection, as well as age-related alterations in NK cells and γδ T cells that may associate with increased WNV susceptibility in older people. We also highlight two advanced technologies, i.e., mass cytometry and microRNA profiling, which significantly contribute to systems-level study of immune dysregulation in aging and should facilitate new discoveries for therapeutic intervention against WNV.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, 300 Cedar Street, New Haven, CT, 06520, USA.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, 300 Cedar Street, New Haven, CT, 06520, USA. ruth.montgomery@yale.edu.
authors.forename: Ruth R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Montgomery
mesh_terms: D056704:Adaptive Immunity; D000375:Aging / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D004198:Disease Susceptibility / Q000276:immunology*; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D006801:Humans; D007113:Immunity, Innate; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics; D019562:Viral Load; D014901:West Nile Fever / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D014902:West Nile virus / Q000276:immunology / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D035683:MicroRNAs
keywords: Aging; Immune aging; Mass cytometry; MicroRNAs; West Nile virus