About this Research Topic
As the global population ages, older patients are receiving organ transplants. Organ transplantation has the potential to improve longevity, quality of life, and function, but only with appropriate donor and recipient selection and management. Age-related changes in the immune system have important implications for the outcomes and management of these recipients. Specifically, aging immune systems are potentially less prone to rejection (or graft-versus-host disease) while more susceptible to infection or malignancy. Thus, immune suppression strategies appropriate for one age group may not be optimal for all recipients. This research topic seeks to explore the immune mechanisms underlying age-related impacts on recipients and their allografts.
Improving outcomes for organ transplant recipients will require a detailed understanding of the implications of immune aging on the allograft and recipient. We welcome novel studies exploring the role of donor and recipient age on infection, malignancy, rejection, graft failure, survival, and patient-centered outcomes, but encourage basic and translational work into the mechanisms underlying these observations. Aging is a multifaceted process that includes senescence, mitochondrial dysfunction, telomere attrition, epigenetic changes, fibrosis, loss of homeostasis, and cell fate commitment, with impacts on inflammation, tumor surveillance, and alloimmunity. As biological and numerical age may differ, more work is needed to define the appropriate ways to quantify biological age. It is also important to understand the role of chronic infections, such as CMV, in promoting immune aging. Because the immune ages of the allograft and the recipient differ, age-related effects could be dependent on donor or recipient age or their interaction.
We welcome authors to submit Original Research, Reviews, Mini Reviews, and Clinical Trial articles focusing on the following subtopics:
• Impact of aging on host immune cell subtypes
• Immune aging in stem-cell transplantation
• Age-related effects on allograft antigen presentation and alloreactivity
• Biological mechanisms of immune aging
• Implications of immune suppression on aging immune cells.
• Loss of allograft homeostasis and repair mechanisms
• Effects of chronic viral infections on immune aging
• Implications of immune aging on infection, malignancy and vaccine responses
• Exhaustion as a driver of immunosenescence
• Distinct effects of donor and recipient age
Improving outcomes for organ transplant recipients will require a detailed understanding of the implications of immune aging on the allograft and recipient. We welcome novel studies exploring the role of donor and recipient age on infection, malignancy, rejection, graft failure, survival, and patient-centered outcomes, but encourage basic and translational work into the mechanisms underlying these observations. Aging is a multifaceted process that includes senescence, mitochondrial dysfunction, telomere attrition, epigenetic changes, fibrosis, loss of homeostasis, and cell fate commitment, with impacts on inflammation, tumor surveillance, and alloimmunity. As biological and numerical age may differ, more work is needed to define the appropriate ways to quantify biological age. It is also important to understand the role of chronic infections, such as CMV, in promoting immune aging. Because the immune ages of the allograft and the recipient differ, age-related effects could be dependent on donor or recipient age or their interaction.
We welcome authors to submit Original Research, Reviews, Mini Reviews, and Clinical Trial articles focusing on the following subtopics:
• Impact of aging on host immune cell subtypes
• Immune aging in stem-cell transplantation
• Age-related effects on allograft antigen presentation and alloreactivity
• Biological mechanisms of immune aging
• Implications of immune suppression on aging immune cells.
• Loss of allograft homeostasis and repair mechanisms
• Effects of chronic viral infections on immune aging
• Implications of immune aging on infection, malignancy and vaccine responses
• Exhaustion as a driver of immunosenescence
• Distinct effects of donor and recipient age
Keywords: Senescence, Organ transplantation, Immune Aging
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
