Medicine and the Immune System

The immune system is of utmost importance in every individual and more so in the aging adult. This protective system has been found to deteriorate as the person ages, and since it is associated with every tissue and organ in the body, research efforts have been aimed at acquiring a better understanding of how it works and why it is vulnerable to advancing age.

Immunogerontology is a new field that aims to study the immune system in the aging adult. Results from experiments done in this field have yielded few data to date and the results that have been generated have come under scrutiny as the new field becomes established and accepted protocols are put in place. Preliminary results however have verified and documented that the immune system becomes sluggish in its attempts to respond to stimuli and that these changes are the result of cumulative variations at the chemical, cellular, and

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tigen had been bound to the antigen binding site. This absence of CD69 verified the interruption of the signaling activity. Malnutrition in aging populations is another mechanism, which contributes to the decline in the efficiency of the signal transduction system and as a result leads to the degradation of the immune response. Calcium is an integral part of the signaling mechanism and the biochemical pathways that compose it. Enzymes necessary for T cell proliferation are rendered useless in the absence of calcium as shown by Miller et al (1996). Measurements made in the lab of IL-2 production were shown to be substantially lower than in T cells belonging to younger individuals. It is important to remember that IL-2 is produced after the antigen binds to the receptor-binding site and is responsible for promoting the proliferation of the T cell. Though these experiments are mainly carried out on mice, the biochemical pathways are very similar and results tend to indicate that immunodeficiency in the aging adult is due in part to the decline in calcium concentrations. Other nutrients such as zinc and vitamin E are also important in the proper functioning of the immune system affecting cytokine production and imparting a pro
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Some common words found in the essay are:
IL-3 Interleukins, Response Advances, Doria Frasca, Natural Killer, Conclusion Recent, According Linton, Gorozny JJ, IMMUNOPATHOL Vol, Ming Chen, SCI Vol, immune system, et al, signal transduction, nk cells, aging adult, et al 1998, frasca 1997, plasma cells, foreign antigen, nanve cells, affect cells, doria frasca 1997, et al 1996,
Approximate Word count = 1708
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)

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