The DOI matches its Crossref record; 265 of the 270 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
The Impact of Immune System Aging on Infectious Diseases
Open accessAbstract
Immune system aging is becoming a field of increasing public health interest because of prolonged life expectancy, which is not paralleled by an increase in health expectancy. As age progresses, innate and adaptive immune systems undergo changes, which are defined, respectively, as inflammaging and immune senescence. A wealth of available data demonstrates that these two conditions are closely linked, leading to a greater vulnerability of elderly subjects to viral, bacterial, and opportunistic infections as well as lower post-vaccination protection. To face this novel scenario, an in-depth assessment of the immune players involved in this changing epidemiology is demanded regarding the individual and concerted involvement of immune cells and mediators within endogenous and exogenous factors and co-morbidities. This review provides an overall updated description of the changes affecting the aging immune system, which may be of help in understanding the underlying mechanisms associated with the main age-associated infectious diseases.
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“The elderly also face heightened vulnerability, since physiological aging, immunological decline, and cumulative environmental exposures compromise skin barrier function, leading to increased incidence and severity of inflammatory skin diseases, infections, and malignancies, especially during periods of poor air quality or extreme weather events [88,89,90].”
From The Environmental Determinants of Skin Health: Linking Climate Change, Air Pollution, and the Dermatologic Disease Burden (2025) · cites this paper as [88]
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Metadata
- Authors
- Quiros-Roldan, E., Sottini, A., Natali, P. G., & Imberti, L.
- Affiliations
- Department of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, ASST- Spedali Civili and DSCS- University of Brescia, 25123 Brescia, Italy
- Azienda Socio Sanitaria Territoriale degli Spedali Civili di Brescia (IT)
- Mediterranean Task Force for Cancer Control (MTCC), Via Pizzo Bernina, 14, 00141 Rome, Italy
- University of Brescia (IT)
- Corresponding author
- Imberti, Luisa
- Venue
- Microorganisms
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Published
- 2024-04-11
- Volume
- 12
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 775
- ISSN
- 2076-2607 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC11051847
- OpenAlex
- W4394716887
- Cited by
- 133
- References
- 270
- Citations by year
- 2026: 56 · 2025: 63 · 2024: 14
- FWCI
- 5.87
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Microorganisms (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- Institutional Research Information System (Università degli Studi di Brescia) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- 2nd bando Sanità; PNRR-Salute; Ministero della Salute, Italia
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Immunology › Immune responses and vaccinations
- Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Immunology › Immune Response and Inflammation
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Aging › Genetics, Aging, and Longevity in Model Organisms
- Keywords
- immunosenescence, inflammaging, opportunistic infections, viral infection, bacterial infection, vaccine response in the elderly, innate immunity, adaptive immunity, comorbidities
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