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Review
. 2019 Aug;208(3-4):263-269.
doi: 10.1007/s00430-019-00605-w. Epub 2019 Apr 19.

Impact of CMV upon immune aging: facts and fiction

Mladen Jergović  1 , Nico A Contreras  1 , Janko Nikolich-Žugich  2   3
Affiliations
Review

Impact of CMV upon immune aging: facts and fiction

Mladen Jergović et al. Med Microbiol Immunol. 2019 Aug.

Abstract

Aging is accompanied by significant defects in immunity and compromised responses to new, previously unencountered microbial pathogens. Most humans carry several persistent or latent viruses as they age, interacting with the host immune systems for years. In that context maybe the most studied persistent virus is Cytomegalovirus, infamous for its ability to recruit very large T cell responses which increase with age and to simultaneously evade elimination by the immune system. Here we will address how lifelong CMV infection and the immunological burden of its control might affect immune reactivity and health of the host over time.

Keywords: Aging; Cytomegalovirus; Latency; Memory inflation; T cells.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest

The authors declare they have no conflict of interest.

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