The aging of the immune system isn't just a matter of damage, it is also inherent in the structure of a limited number of immune cells over time becoming ever more devoted to remembering threats rather than fighting them. As this research suggests there is the damage to think about as well, however:
As animals age, their immune systems gradually deteriorate, a process called immunosenescence. It is associated with systemic inflammation and chronic inflammatory disorders, as well as with many cancers. The causes underlying this age-associated inflammation, and how it leads to diseases, are poorly understood. Insects have an immune organ called the fat body, which is roughly equivalent to the mammalian fat and liver. It is responsible for many immune functions.[Researchers] found that the fruit fly fat body experiences a great deal of inflammation in aged flies. [The] gradual reduction of a protein called lamin-B in the fat bodies of aging flies is the culprit behind fat body inflammation. Lamin-B is part of the lamin family of proteins, which form the major structural component of the material that lines the inside of a cell's nucleus. Lamins have diverse functions, including suppressing gene expression, and they are found in an array of tissues and organs. In humans, diseases caused by mutations in lamins are called laminopathies and include premature aging.
B-type lamins have long been suspected to play a role in gene suppression by binding to segments of DNA. The team's work revealed that when the fruit fly fat body was depleted of lamin-B, the normal suppression of genes involved in the immune response is reversed, just as it would be in response to bacterial infection or injury, but in this case there is no apparent infection or injury. The un-suppressed immune response initiates the inflammation.
Link: https://carnegiescie...lammation_found
View the full article at FightAging
