The immune system changes with age

The immune system changes with age through a process known asimmunosenescence. There is growing evidence that the immune systemin RA patients undergoes accelerated and premature aging [5]. Theaging process affects both the innate and the adaptive immune systems.The innate immune system becomes non-specifically active with age,thus contributing to increased chronic inflammation and comorbidities[6]. The adaptive immune system becomes functionally defective andundergoes phenotypical changes with age, contributing to the breakdown of immunological tolerance which contributes to an increasedprevalence of autoimmune diseases [6]. Both healthy elderly individuals and RA patients of all ages share features of immunosenescence that contribute to increased comorbidities [5] [7].Patients with elderly onset RA have a higher prevalence of associatedcomorbidities than patients with young-onset RA, perhaps due to theeffect of both RA and older age on the immune aging process [8].