Immunosenescence within an Evolutionary Perspective

The central idea of the evolutionary (or Darwinian) medicine is that the causes of diseases are to be found not only in the immediate context of the patients and in their own life histories (ontogenetic time) but also in the evolutionary history of the human species and particularly in the endless co-evolution between host and pathogens, and the consequent evolutionary constraints. In such a long time-scale perspective, the onset of a disease can be conceptualized as the consequenceof man’s mismatched state to modernity, that is the mismatch between our genes, selected for an hostile environment over millions of years, and the present “artificial” environment, characterized by hygiene, sedentary life and easy access to food. It is in this paradigm that Franceschi and Grignolio discuss aging and longevity, conditions largely not predicted by evolution, in which they analyze immunosenescence as well as the detrimental effects of the “unexpected” genetics of the post-reproductive period of life. Overstimulated over time by persistent antigens, the immune system of the elderly seems to gain an “inflamm-aging” status, a chronic, low-grade inflammation which is also a major contributor to many age-related pathologies.Even if focused on aging, this essay not only offers a comprehensive evolutionary interpretations of the most recent immunological topics, but it also introduces us to a deeper dimension of the HISTORY OF IMMUNE SYSTEM combined with the new perspective of IMMUNOLOGICAL BIOGRAPHY.