http://www.immunityageing.com The latest research articles published by Immunity & Ageing 2012-05-17T00:00:00Z Background: Chlamydia pneumoniae is an obligate intracellular respiratory pathogen for humans. Infectionby C. pneumoniae may be linked etiologically to extra-respiratory diseases of aging,especially atherosclerosis. We have previously shown that age promotes C. pneumoniaerespiratory infection and extra-respiratory spread in BALB/c mice.FindingsAged C57BL/6 mice had a greater propensity to develop chronic and/or progressiverespiratory infections following experimental intranasal infection by Chlamydia pneumoniaewhen compared to young counterparts. A heptavalent CTL epitope minigene (CpnCTL7)vaccine conferred equal protection in the lungs of both aged and young mice. This vaccinewas partially effective in protecting against C. pneumoniae spread to the cardiovascularsystem of young mice, but failed to provide cardiovascular protection in aged animals. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that vaccine strategies that target the generation of a C. pneumoniaespecificCTL response can protect the respiratory system of both young and aged animals, butmay not be adequate to prevent dissemination of C. pneumoniae to the cardiovascular systemor control replication in those tissues in aged animals. http://www.immunityageing.com/content/9/1/11 Taylor Eddens Sarah Beaudoin Amanda Steinberger C. Scott Little Dawn Shell Benjamin Wizel Brian Balin Kerin Fresa-Dillon Immunity & Ageing 2012, null:11 2012-05-17T00:00:00Z doi:10.1186/1742-4933-9-11 /content/figures/1742-4933-9-11-toc.gif Immunity & Ageing 1742-4933 ${item.volume} 11 2012-05-17T00:00:00Z PDF This paper pays attention to the modifiable lifestyle factors such as diet and nutrition thatmight influence life extension and successful ageing. Previous data reported that in Sicily, thebiggest Mediterranean island, there are some places where there is a high frequency of malecentenarians with respect to the Italian average. The present data show that in SicaniMountain zone there are more centenarians with respect to the Italian average. In fact, in fivevillages of Sicani Mountains, there were 19 people with an age range of 100-107 years oldfrom a total population of 18,328 inhabitants. So, the centenarian number was 4.32-foldhigher than the national average (10.37 vs. 2.4/10,000); the female/male ratio was 1.1:1 in thestudy area, while the national ratio is 4.54:1. Unequivocally, their nutritional assessmentshowed a high adherence to the Mediterranean nutritional profile with low glycemic indexfood consumed. To reach successful ageing it is advisable to follow a diet with low quantityof saturated fat and high amount of fruits and vegetables rich in phytochemicals. http://www.immunityageing.com/content/9/1/10 Sonya Vasto Claudia Rizzo Calogero Caruso Immunity & Ageing 2012, null:10 2012-04-23T00:00:00Z doi:10.1186/1742-4933-9-10 /content/figures/1742-4933-9-10-toc.gif Immunity & Ageing 1742-4933 ${item.volume} 10 2012-04-23T00:00:00Z PDF Ageing is a challenge for any living organism and human longevity is a complex phenotype. With increasing life expectancy, maintaining long-term health, functionality and well-being during ageing has become an essential goal. To increase our understanding of how ageing works, it may be advantageous to analyze the phenotype of centenarians, perhaps one of the best examples of successful ageing. Healthy ageing involves the interaction between genes, the environment, and lifestyle factors, particularly diet. Besides evaluating specific gene-environment interactions in relation to exceptional longevity, it is important to focus attention on modifiable lifestyle factors such as diet and nutrition to achieve extension of health span. Furthermore, a better understanding of human longevity may assist in the design of strategies to extend the duration of optimal human health. In this article we briefly discuss relevant topics on ageing and longevity with particular focus on dietary patterns of centenarians and nutrient-sensing pathways that have a pivotal role in the regulation of life span. Finally, we also discuss the potential role of Nrf2 system in the pro-ageing signaling emphasizing its phytohormetic activation. http://www.immunityageing.com/content/9/1/9 Sergio Davinelli D. Craig Willcox Giovanni Scapagnini Immunity & Ageing 2012, null:9 2012-04-23T00:00:00Z doi:10.1186/1742-4933-9-9 /content/figures/1742-4933-9-9-toc.gif Immunity & Ageing 1742-4933 ${item.volume} 9 2012-04-23T00:00:00Z PDF The demographic and social changes of the past decades have determined improvements in public health and longevity. So, the number of centenarians is increasing as a worldwide phenomenon. Scientists have focused their attention on centenarians as optimal model to address the biological mechanisms of "successful and unsuccessful ageing". They are equipped to reach the extreme limits of human life span and, most importantly, to show relatively good health, being able to perform their routine daily life and to escape fatal age-related diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases and cancer. Thus, particular attention has been centered on their genetic background and immune system. In this review, we report our data gathered for over 10 years in Sicilian centenarians. Based on results obtained, we suggest longevity as the result of an optimal performance of immune system and an over-expression of anti-inflammatory sequence variants of immune/inflammatory genes. However, as well known, genetic, epigenetic, stochastic and environmental factors seem to have a crucial role in ageing and longevity. Epigenetic is associated to ageing, as demonstrated in many studies. In particular, ageing is associated with a global loss of methylation state. Thus, the aim of our future studies will be to analyze the weight of epigenetic changes in ageing and longevity. http://www.immunityageing.com/content/9/1/8 Carmela Balistreri Giuseppina Candore Giulia Accardi Manuela Bova Silvio Buffa Matteo Bulati Giusi Forte Florinda Listi Adriana Martorana Marisa Palmeri MariaValeria Pellicano Loredana Vaccarino Letizia Scola Domenico Lio Giuseppina Colonna-Romano Immunity & Ageing 2012, null:8 2012-04-23T00:00:00Z doi:10.1186/1742-4933-9-8 /content/figures/1742-4933-9-8-toc.gif Immunity & Ageing 1742-4933 ${item.volume} 8 2012-04-23T00:00:00Z PDF The average life-span of the population of industrialized countries has improved enormously over the last decades. Despite evidence pointing to the role of food intake in modulating life-span, exceptional longevity is still considered primarily an inheritable trait, as pointed out by the description of families with centenarian clusters and by the elevated relative probability of siblings of centenarians to become centenarians themselves. However, rather than being two separate concepts, the genetic origin of exceptional longevity and the more recently observed environment-driven increase in the average age of the population could possibly be explained by the same genetic variants and environmentally modulated mechanisms (caloric restriction, specific nutrients). In support of this hypothesis, polymorphisms selected for in the centenarian population as a consequence of demographic pressure have been found to modulate cellular signals controlled also by caloric restriction. Here, we give an overview of the recent findings in the field of the genetics of human exceptional longevity, of how some of the identified polymorphisms modulate signals also influenced by food intake and caloric restriction, of what in our view have been the limitations of the approaches used over the past years to study genetics (sib-pair-, candidate gene association-, and genome-wide association-studies), and briefly of the limitations and the potential of the new, high-throughput, next-generation sequencing techniques applied to exceptional longevity. http://www.immunityageing.com/content/9/1/7 Anna Ferrario Francesco Villa Alberto Malovini Fiorella Araniti Annibale Puca Immunity & Ageing 2012, null:7 2012-04-23T00:00:00Z doi:10.1186/1742-4933-9-7 /content/figures/1742-4933-9-7-toc.gif Immunity & Ageing 1742-4933 ${item.volume} 7 2012-04-23T00:00:00Z PDF Healthy ageing and longevity in humans result from a number of factors, including genetic background, favorable environmental and social factors and chance.In this article we aimed to overview the research on the biological basis of human healthy ageing and longevity, discussing the role of epidemiological, genetic and epigenetic factors in the variation of quality of ageing and lifespan, including the most promising candidate genes investigated so far. Moreover, we reported the methodologies applied for their identification, discussing advantages and disadvantages of the different approaches and possible solutions that can be taken to overcome them. Finally, we illustrated the recent approaches to define healthy ageing and underlined the role that the emerging field of epigenetics is gaining in the search for the determinants of healthy ageing and longevity. http://www.immunityageing.com/content/9/1/6 Alberto Montesanto Serena Dato Dina Bellizzi Giuseppina Rose Giuseppe Passarino Immunity & Ageing 2012, null:6 2012-04-23T00:00:00Z doi:10.1186/1742-4933-9-6 /content/figures/1742-4933-9-6-toc.gif Immunity & Ageing 1742-4933 ${item.volume} 6 2012-04-23T00:00:00Z XML The extraordinary increase of the elderly in developed countries underscore the importance ofstudies on ageing and longevity and the need for the prompt spread of knowledge aboutageing in order to satisfactorily decrease the medical, economic and social problemsassociated to advancing years, because of the increased number of individuals notautonomous and affected by invalidating pathologies.Centenarians are equipped to reach the extreme limits of human life span and, mostimportantly, to show relatively good health, being able to perform their routine daily life andto escape fatal age-related diseases. Thus, they are the best example of extreme longevity,representing selected people in which the appearance of major age-related diseases, such ascancer, and cardiovascular diseases among others, has been consistently delayed or escaped.To discuss the relevance of genetics and life style in the attainment of longevity, five papersmostly focused on Italian centenarians have been assembled in this series. The aim is torealize, through a" positive biology" approach (rather than making diseases the central focusof research, "positive biology" seeks to understand the causes of positive phenotypes, tryingto explain the biological mechanisms of health and well-being) how to prevent and/or reduceelderly frailty and disability. http://www.immunityageing.com/content/9/1/5 Calogero Caruso Giuseppe Passarino Annibale Puca Giovanni Scapagnini Immunity & Ageing 2012, null:5 2012-04-23T00:00:00Z doi:10.1186/1742-4933-9-5 /content/figures/1742-4933-9-5-toc.gif Immunity & Ageing 1742-4933 ${item.volume} 5 2012-04-23T00:00:00Z PDF World population has experienced continuous growth since 1400 A.D. Current projections show a continued increase - but a steady decline in the population growth rate - with the number expected to reach between 8 and 10.5 billion people within 40 years. The elderly population is rapidly rising: in 1950 there were 205 million people aged 60 or older, while in 2000 there were 606 million. By 2050, the global population aged 60 or over is projected to expand by more than three times, reaching nearly 2 billion people 1. Most cancers are age-related diseases: in the US, 50% of all malignancies occur in people aged 65-95. 60% of all cancers are expected to be diagnosed in elderly patients by 2020 2. Further, cancer-related mortality increases with age: 70% of all malignancy-related deaths are registered in people aged 65 years or older 3. Here we introduce the microscopic aspects of aging, the pro-inflammatory phenotype of the elderly, and the changes related to immunosenescence. Then we deal with cancer disease and its development, the difficulty of treatment administration in the geriatric population, and the importance of a comprehensive geriatric assessment. Finally, we aim to analyze the complex interactions of aging with cancer and cancer vaccinology, and the importance of this last approach as a complementary therapy to different levels of prevention and treatment. Cancer vaccines, in fact, should at present be recommended in association to a stronger cancer prevention and conventional therapies (surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy), both for curative and palliative intent, in order to reduce morbidity and mortality associated to cancer progression. http://www.immunityageing.com/content/9/1/4 Paolo Mazzola Saba Radhi Leonardo Mirandola Giorgio Annoni Marjorie Jenkins Everardo Cobos Maurizio Chiriva-Internati Immunity & Ageing 2012, null:4 2012-04-17T00:00:00Z doi:10.1186/1742-4933-9-4 /content/figures/1742-4933-9-4-toc.gif Immunity & Ageing 1742-4933 ${item.volume} 4 2012-04-17T00:00:00Z XML The success of biomedical researches has led to improvement in human health and increased life expectancy. An unexpected consequence has been an increase of age-related diseases and, in particular, neurodegenerative diseases. These disorders are generally late onset and exhibit complex pathologies including memory loss, cognitive defects, movement disorders and death. Here, it is described as the use of simple animal models such as worms, fishes, flies, Ascidians and sea urchins, have facilitated the understanding of several biochemical mechanisms underlying Alzheimer's disease (AD), one of the most diffuse neurodegenerative pathologies. The discovery of specific genes and proteins associated with AD, and the development of new technologies for the production of transgenic animals, has helped researchers to overcome the lack of natural models. Moreover, simple model systems of AD have been utilized to obtain key information for evaluating potential therapeutic interventions and for testing efficacy of putative neuroprotective compounds. http://www.immunityageing.com/content/9/1/3 Marta Di Carlo Immunity & Ageing 2012, null:3 2012-04-16T00:00:00Z doi:10.1186/1742-4933-9-3 /content/figures/1742-4933-9-3-toc.gif Immunity & Ageing 1742-4933 ${item.volume} 3 2012-04-16T00:00:00Z PDF Background: We recently isolated and identified Zizimin2 as a functional factor that is highly expressed in murine splenic germinal center B cells after immunization with T-cell-dependent antigen. Zizimin2 was revealed to be a new family member of Dock (dedicator of cytokinesis), Dock11, which is the guanine nucleotide exchange factor for Cdc42, a low-molecular-weight GTPase. However, the molecular function of Zizimin2 in acquired immunity has not been elucidated. Results: In this study, we show that the protein expression of Zizimin2, which is also restricted to lymphoid tissues and lymphocytes, is reduced in aged mice. Over-expression of full-length Zizimin2 induced filopodial formation in 293T cells, whereas expression of CZH2 domain inhibited it. Stimulation of Fcgamma receptor and Toll-like receptor 4 triggered Zizimin2 up-regulation and Cdc42 activation in bone marrow-derived dendritic cells. Conclusions: These data suggest that Zizimin2 is an immune-related and age-regulated guanine nucleotide exchange factor, which facilitates filopodial formation through activation of Cdc42, which results in activation of cell migration. http://www.immunityageing.com/content/9/1/2 Isamu Sakabe Azusa Asai Junko Iijima Mitsuo Maruyama Immunity & Ageing 2012, null:2 2012-04-11T00:00:00Z doi:10.1186/1742-4933-9-2 /content/figures/1742-4933-9-2-toc.gif Immunity & Ageing 1742-4933 ${item.volume} 2 2012-04-11T00:00:00Z PDF