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Review
. 2023 May 24:14:1146704.
doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1146704. eCollection 2023.

Impact of aging on immunity in the context of COVID-19, HIV, and tuberculosis

Alba Grifoni  1 , Tonino Alonzi  2 , Galit Alter  3 , Douglas McClain Noonan  4   5 , Alan L Landay  6 , Adriana Albini  7 , Delia Goletti  2
Affiliations
Review

Impact of aging on immunity in the context of COVID-19, HIV, and tuberculosis

Alba Grifoni et al. Front Immunol. .

Abstract

Knowledge of aging biology needs to be expanded due to the continuously growing number of elderly people worldwide. Aging induces changes that affect all systems of the body. The risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer increases with age. In particular, the age-induced adaptation of the immune system causes a greater susceptibility to infections and contributes to the inability to control pathogen growth and immune-mediated tissue damage. Since the impact of aging on immune function, is still to be fully elucidated, this review addresses some of the recent understanding of age-related changes affecting key components of immunity. The emphasis is on immunosenescence and inflammaging that are impacted by common infectious diseases that are characterized by a high mortality, and includes COVID-19, HIV and tuberculosis.

Keywords: B cells; COVID-19; HIV; T cells; aging; immunosenescence; innate cells; tuberculosis.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Age-related immune alterations in infectious diseases. Impact of age on the innate and adaptive immunity in COVID-19, HIV and tuberculosis (TB). Aging may lead to modifications of both innate and adaptive immunity arms that induce a dysfunctional immune response against viral or bacterial infections, which includes increased cytokines release, downregulation of APCs, T and B cell functions, upregulation of T-reg cells. Elderly people are an at-risk group for a more aggressive organ damage and the development of secondary diseases. Created with BioRender.com.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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