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Updated: May 10, 2026

Interrogating Individual Autoreactive Germinal Centers by Photoactivation in a Mixed Chimeric Model of Autoimmunity
Published on: April 11, 2019
The janus head of T cell aging - autoimmunity and immunodeficiency
Jörg J Goronzy1, Guangjin Li, Zhen Yang
1Division of Immunology and Rheumatology, Department of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine , Stanford, CA , USA ; Department of Medicine, Palo Alto Veteran Administration Health Care System , Palo Alto, CA , USA.
Abstract:
Immune aging is best known for its immune defects that increase susceptibility to infections and reduce adaptive immune responses to vaccination. In parallel, the aged immune system is prone to autoimmune responses and many autoimmune diseases increase in incidence with age or are even preferentially encountered in the elderly. Why an immune system that suboptimally responds to exogenous antigen fails to maintain tolerance to self-antigens appears to be perplexing. In this review, we will discuss age-associated deviations in the immune repertoire and the regulation of signaling pathways that may shed light on this conundrum.
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