Assessing inflammageing

Abstract

Purpose of review: Immunosenescence has been scrutinized in detail, and evidence that inflammation and ageing are interrelated is consistent. Still, a gold standard for assessing the biological age of the immune function in an individual patient is lacking, so that immunosenescence is still not a quantifiable criterion in clinical decision-making processes.

Recent findings: This review highlights recent (partly ongoing) studies into biomarkers of inflammation to assess immunosenescence, including large-scale studies, and quotes expert opinion statements. Markers of basal inflammation frequently used include interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor-α and receptors p55 and p75, C-reactive protein and cytomegalovirus antibody levels. Some cellular markers are particularly advocated to reflect age-related decay of specific immunity, namely the decrease of naive T cells, especially CD8cells, and accumulations of memory T cells, especially late-stage differentiated CD8 cells; the loss of CD28 on lymphocytes is also taken as a biomarker of immunosenescence.

Summary: Substantial progress has been made in both understanding and phenotyping immunosenescence and inflammageing. The diagnosis of the degree of immunosenescence in the individual patient, however, has not yet been standardized.