Guest guest Posted March 6, 2008 Report Share Posted March 6, 2008 Clinical Infectious Diseases 2008;46:1078–1084 © 2008 by the Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved. 1058-4838/2008/4607-0019$15.00 DOI: 10.1086/529197 VACCINES INVITED ARTICLE Biology of Immune Responses to Vaccines in Elderly Persons Birgit Weinberger, Dietmar Herndler-Brandstetter, Angelika Schwanninger, a Weiskopf, and Beatrix Grubeck-Loebenstein Immunology Division, Institute for Biomedical Aging Research, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Innsbruck, Austria With increasing age, the human immune system undergoes characteristic changes, termed immunosenescence, which lead to increased incidence and severity of infectious diseases and to insufficient protection following vaccination. Functional defects and altered frequencies of innate and adaptive immune cells impair local responses at the site of vaccine injection, hamper the generation of primary responses to neoantigens, prevent the effective induction of memory lymphocytes, and decrease the effect of booster vaccination. As a result, antibody responses of elderly vaccinees are weaker and decline faster, and long-term protective effects of vaccination cannot be taken for granted in elderly persons. Improved vaccination strategies, new adjuvants, and new vaccines that specifically target the aged immune system will help to overcome the limitations of immunosenescence and ensure a better protection of the vulnerable elderly population. Received 9 October 2007; accepted 3 December 2007; electronically published 29 February 2008. Reprints or correspondence: Dr. Beatrix Grubeck-Loebenstein, Institute for Biomedical Aging Research, Rennweg 10, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria (beatrix.grubeck-loebenstein@...). Stanley Plotkin, Section Editor http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/529197 _________________________________________________________________ Climb to the top of the charts! Play the word scramble challenge with star power. http://club.live.com/star_shuffle.aspx?icid=starshuffle_wlmailtextlink_jan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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