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Fulop T, Larbi A, Pawelec G, Cohen AA, Provost G, Khalil A, Lacombe G, Rodrigues S, Desroches M, Hirokawa K, Franceschi C, Witkowski JM. Immunosenescence and Altered Vaccine Efficiency in Older Subjects: A Myth Difficult to Change. Vaccines (Basel) 2022; 10:vaccines10040607. [PMID: 35455356 PMCID: PMC9030923 DOI: 10.3390/vaccines10040607] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/12/2022] [Revised: 04/05/2022] [Accepted: 04/08/2022] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Organismal ageing is associated with many physiological changes, including differences in the immune system of most animals. These differences are often considered to be a key cause of age-associated diseases as well as decreased vaccine responses in humans. The most often cited vaccine failure is seasonal influenza, but, while it is usually the case that the efficiency of this vaccine is lower in older than younger adults, this is not always true, and the reasons for the differential responses are manifold. Undoubtedly, changes in the innate and adaptive immune response with ageing are associated with failure to respond to the influenza vaccine, but the cause is unclear. Moreover, recent advances in vaccine formulations and adjuvants, as well as in our understanding of immune changes with ageing, have contributed to the development of vaccines, such as those against herpes zoster and SARS-CoV-2, that can protect against serious disease in older adults just as well as in younger people. In the present article, we discuss the reasons why it is a myth that vaccines inevitably protect less well in older individuals, and that vaccines represent one of the most powerful means to protect the health and ensure the quality of life of older adults.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tamas Fulop
- Research Center on Aging, Geriatric Division, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, QC J1H 5N4, Canada; (A.K.); (G.L.)
- Correspondence: (T.F.); (S.R.)
| | - Anis Larbi
- Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN), Agency for Science Technology and Research (A*STAR), Immunos Building, Singapore 138648, Singapore;
| | - Graham Pawelec
- Department of Immunology, University of Tübingen, 72072 Tübingen, Germany;
- Health Sciences North Research Institute, Sudbury, ON P3E 2H2, Canada
| | - Alan A. Cohen
- Groupe de Recherche PRIMUS, Department of Family Medicine, University of Sherbrooke, 3001 12e Ave N, Sherbrooke, QC J1H 5N4, Canada;
| | | | - Abedelouahed Khalil
- Research Center on Aging, Geriatric Division, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, QC J1H 5N4, Canada; (A.K.); (G.L.)
| | - Guy Lacombe
- Research Center on Aging, Geriatric Division, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, QC J1H 5N4, Canada; (A.K.); (G.L.)
| | - Serafim Rodrigues
- Ikerbasque, The Basque Foundation for Science, 48009 Bilbao, Spain;
- BCAM—The Basque Center for Applied Mathematics, 48009 Bilbao, Spain
- Correspondence: (T.F.); (S.R.)
| | - Mathieu Desroches
- MathNeuro Team, Inria Sophia Antipolis Méditerranée, CEDEX, 06902 Sophia Antipolis, France;
- The Jean Alexandre Dieudonné Laboratory, Université Côte d’Azur, CEDEX 2, 06108 Nice, France
| | - Katsuiku Hirokawa
- Institute of Health and Life Science, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo 113-8510, Japan;
| | - Claudio Franceschi
- IRCCS Institute of Neurological Sciences of Bologna, Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy;
- Department of Applied Mathematics and Laboratory of Systems Biology of Healthy Aging, Lobachevsky State University, 603000 Nizhny Novgorod, Russia
| | - Jacek M. Witkowski
- Department of Pathophysiology, Medical University of Gdansk, 80-210 Gdansk, Poland;
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