Allergy and immunology of the aging lung

The aging process is associated with progressively impaired immune surveillance and decreased ability to mount an appropriate immune response, which potentially leads to increased susceptibility to respiratory insults. In older patients, pneumonias rank high as a reason for hospitalization and cause significant morbidity and mortality. Currently, little is known about how the innate and adaptive immune responses change in the aged human lung or how the changes are linked to increasing susceptibility to respiratory disease. This article reviews the basics of pulmonary host defense and some recently published research on the immune response within the aging lung.