Sumario: | "Immunosenescence" is an imprecise term used to describe deleterious age-associated changes to immune parameters observed in all mammals studied so far. It represents a rapidly progressing science in the aging field, with a vertiginous volume of new data, knowledge and concepts concerning these changes. Indeed, during the almost 10 years that have passed since the first edition of this Handbook, a wealth of additional information has emerged from animal models and also from increasingly available human data. Numerous new aspects of the immune changes with aging have emerged, while others became less prominent. The application of the new multi-"omics" techniques in immunology have revolutionized our molecular understanding of basic immune mechanisms. The extended and revisited concept of Inflamm-aging sheds a new light on the intricate relationships among immunosenescence and inflamm-aging. The new concept of inflamm-aging integrates different emerging experimental data such as those pertaining to the senescence-associated secretory phenotype and responses to damage. "Geroscience" is emphasising the role of immune changes during life in all manner of age-related chronic diseases such as cancer and neurodegenerative disorders. The field is poised to be in a position to translate these accumulated data into the clinical setting via a better understanding of the contribution of immunosenescence to age-associated pathologies, and their prevention by appropriate interventions. This new edition of the Handbook seeks to encompass the current state of our knowledge on the multitude of those changes to immunity related to aging, with contributions from experts in both basic research and clinical areas. This book therefore considers methods and models for studying immunosenescence; cellular immunosenescence of T cells, B cells, neutrophils, antigen presenting cells, NK, NKT and stem cells; genetics; mechanisms including receptors and signal transduction; mitochondria; proteasome; cytokines; neuro-endocrine-immune networks; inflammation; thymus; clinical relevance in disease states including infections, autoimmunity, cancer, metabolic syndrome, neurodegenerative diseases, frailty and osteoporosis; modulation by nutrition, microbiome, lipids, vaccination and the burning question "can interventions to influence immunosenescence be realistically proposed based on our current state of knowledge?".
|