Human immunosenescence contributes to morbidity and mortality in later life. The age-associated increasing incidence of cancer and cardiovascular disease plateaus at around 80 years of age in industrialised countries, but death due to infectious disease continues to increase up to 100 years of age and beyond. Understanding the reasons for age-associated alterations to protective immunity in the elderly would facilitate the development of interventions to reconstitute appropriate immune function, increase responsiveness to vaccination and extend healthspan. The majority of the papers collected in this volume therefore address not only the mechanisms responsible for immune ageing in humans but consider what might be accomplished to redress the erosion of immune competence with age.

From the reviews:

The book covers the basic biology of cell-mediated immunity decline, the consequences of the declined immune system, and interventional therapeutic approaches aiming to correct or reverse the aged immune system. The book ends with insightful review on therapeutic strategies aiming to correct or reverse immunosenescence. Overall, the book is very well written and should be recommended reading for cell biologists, immunologists, and physician scientists interested in the current scope of understanding immunosenscence and opportunities to explore therapeutic strategies for its correction. (Yang Zhou, Clinical Infectious Diseases, December, 2012)

Inhalt
Immune Risk Phenotypes and Associated Parameters in Very Old Humans: A Review of Findings in the Swedish NONA Immune Longitudinal Study.- Scoring of Immunological Vigor: Trial Assessment of Immunological Status as a Whole for Elderly People and Cancer Patients.- Remodelling of the CD8 T-Cell Compartment in the Elderly: Expression of NK Associated Receptors on T-Cells Is Associated with the Expansion of the Effector Memory Subset.- Telomeres, Telomerase and CD28 in Human CD8 T-Cells: Effects on Immunity during Aging and HIV Infection.- A Matter of Life and Death of T-Lymphocytes in Immunosenescence.- T-Cell Signalling, a Complex Process for T-Cell Activation Compromised with Aging: When Membrane Rafts Can Simplify Everything.- Immunosenescence, Thymic Involution and Autoimmunity.- Autoimmune Diseases, Aging and the CD4+ Lymphocyte: Why Does Insulin-Dependent Diabetes Mellitus Start in Youth, but Rheumatoid Arthritis Mostly at Older Age?.- Role of Chemokines and Chemokine Receptors in Diseases of Ageing.- The Efficacy of Vaccines to Prevent Infectious Diseases in the Elderly.- Zinc and the Altered Immune System in the Elderly.- Zinc-Binding Proteins and Immunosenescence: Implications as Biological and Genetic Markers.- Immunogenetics of Aging.- The Genetics of Innate Immunity and Inflammation in Ageing, Age-Related Diseases and Longevity.- SELDI Proteomics Approach to Identify Proteins Associated with T-Cell Clone Senescence.