Review Article

Natural Compounds and Aging: Between Autophagy and Inflammasome

Table 2

Alterations in the immune system associated with aging.

Immune systemAge-related changesReferences

Innate immunity
 Monocytes or macrophagesReduced levels of MHC class II complexes, reduced phagocytic capacity, and enhanced oxidative stress[97, 98]
 NeutrophilsReduction in phagocytosis ability, impaired free radical production, and decreased rescue from apoptosis[99]
 Dendritic cellsReduced antigen presentation and impaired phagocytic capability to clean apoptotic cells[100]
 Natural killer cellsIncreased number of NK cells, reduced cytotoxicity, and impaired proliferation ability in response to IL-2 stimulation[98]
Acquired immunity
 T cellsReductions in T-cell thymopoiesis, accumulated highly differentiated memory T cells, loss of CD28 antigen and CD69 antigen for T cell activation and signal transduction, and reduced CD8+ cell proliferation in response to antigen stimulation[101, 102]
 B cellsReductions in B-cell lymphopoiesis, increased memory B cells and fewer naive B cells, impaired antibody response to vaccination, and increased production of low-affinity antibodies due to decreased isotype switching[98]

MHC II: major histocompatibility complex class II.