Vaccination in the elderly: an immunological perspective

Successful vaccination of the elderly against important infectious pathogens that cause high morbidity and mortality represents a growing public health priority. Building on the theme of aging and immunosenescence, we review mechanisms of human immunosenescence and the immune response to currently l...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Trends in immunology Vol. 30; no. 7; pp. 351 - 359
Main Authors: Chen, Wilbur H., Kozlovsky, Bernard F., Effros, Rita B., Grubeck-Loebenstein, Beatrix, Edelman, Robert, Sztein, Marcelo B.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01.07.2009
Elsevier Limited
Subjects:
Age
Aged
Aging
Aging - immunology
Aging - metabolism
Allergy and Immunology
Antibody Formation
Arthritis
Bacterial Vaccines - immunology
Bacterial Vaccines - therapeutic use
Blood pressure
Cell culture
Cell cycle
Cell division
Chronic illnesses
Communicable Disease Control
Communicable Diseases - immunology
Disease
Encephalitis
Heart attacks
Hepatitis
Humans
Hypertension
Immune system
Immunity, Cellular
Infections
Influenza
Lymphocytes
Mortality
Telomerase
Tropical diseases
Vaccination
Vaccines
Viral Vaccines - immunology
Viral Vaccines - therapeutic use
Vitamin E
ISSN:1471-4906, 1471-4981
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Successful vaccination of the elderly against important infectious pathogens that cause high morbidity and mortality represents a growing public health priority. Building on the theme of aging and immunosenescence, we review mechanisms of human immunosenescence and the immune response to currently licensed vaccines. We discuss the difficulties in identifying the risk factors that, in addition to aging, cause immunosenescence and address the relative paucity of vaccine studies in the elderly. We conclude that vaccine responses are blunted in the elderly compared with that of healthy young adults. However, it is also clear that our understanding of the mechanisms underlying immunosenescence is limited and much remains to be learned to improve the effectiveness of next generation vaccines.
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ISSN:1471-4906
1471-4981
DOI:10.1016/j.it.2009.05.002