Inflammaging and Immunosenescence

Aging remains a mysterious process, but age-associated changes in the different organ systems constituting the whole organism are well known. One of the best studied both integrative and integrated system of the organism is the immune system, widely studied in relation to aging. These changes are considered as mostly detrimental as the name of immunosenescence suggests and are related to the immune response as well as to age-related, low-grade inflammation, called inflammaging. These two aspects of the immune changes are mutually influencing each other. Recently it emerged that the immune system should be mostly considered as an adaptive system in a very dynamic manner giving rise to the interpretation that the immune changes with aging are adaptative. These then lead either to longevity as a healthy aging surrogate or to pathological aging with age-related diseases depending on the immunobiography and envirobiography of the individual. In this chapter we discuss the changes to immunity as well as their role in aging and the properties of the complex adaptive system which could contribute to one or the other pathway. Some modulation mechanisms are also discussed.