Cytomegalovirus Harmfully Alters Immune Cell Populations in the Aging Immune System

The aging of the immune system isn't just a matter of becoming vulnerable to commonplace infectious diseases, such as influenza. The immune system also removes senescent cells and cancerous cells, both of which present sizable risks to health in later life. Additionally, immune cells participate in normal tissue maintenance in a variety of ways. Further, the chronic inflammation characteristic of an aged immune system disrupts the normal function of many types of cell and tissue, contributing to a diverse range of age-related conditions. For most people, cytomegalovirus (CMV) is an apparently innocuous persistent herpesvirus infection, one that presents no obvious symptoms. A good deal of evidence supports a sizable role for CMV in the age-related decline of the immune system into inflammatory overactivation (inflammaging) and incapacity (immunosenescence), however. Most people are exposed to CMV at some point during their lives, and the immune system is incapable of clearing this persistent virus. Over time, ever more T cells of the adaptive immune system become devoted to targeting CMV rather than taking on other threats, and may even become harmful themselves as result of too much replication in response to the presence of CMV In effect, CMV actively corrodes the ability of the adaptive immune system to defend the body from other threats. In today's open access paper, researchers provide more supporting evidence for potentially detrimental changes in T cell p...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs