• Question: as we get older, does our immune system age with us?

    Asked by EM26 to Carolyn, Peter, Richard, Sara, Siana on 18 Nov 2015.
    • Photo: Richard Unwin

      Richard Unwin answered on 18 Nov 2015:

      Hi Em26. Indeed it does. That’s why as we get older we’re more likely to get infections, they can affect us more seriously, and it takes us longer to get rid of them.

    • Photo: Carolyn Nielsen

      Carolyn Nielsen answered on 18 Nov 2015:

      Hi Em26, Richard is right. The process of the immune system becoming less responsive with age is called immunosenescence. One of the main changes with this is that some immune cells become less sensitive to signals from other immune cells.

      What is really baffling though is that the individual immune cells themselves aren’t as old as you are. These cells are constantly being replaced. But somehow the whole population of immune cells still shifts to have these immunosenescence characteristics. I don’t think scientists completely understand how this works.

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