The age-related increase in low grade systemic inflammation (Inflammaging) is not driven by cytomegalovirus infection

Citation

Bartlett DB, Firth CM, Phillips AC, Moss P, Baylis D, Syddall H, Sayer AA, Cooper C & Lord JM (2012) The age-related increase in low grade systemic inflammation (Inflammaging) is not driven by cytomegalovirus infection. Aging Cell, 11 (5), pp. 912-915. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1474-

Abstract
Aging is accompanied by the development of low-grade systemic inflammation, termed ‘inflammaging’, characterized by raised serum C-reactive protein (CRP) and pro-inflammatory cytokines. Importantly, inflammaging is implicated in the pathogenesis of several of the major age-related diseases including cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and dementia and is associated with increased mortality. The incidence of infection with the persistent herpes virus cytomegalovirus (CMV) also increases with age. Cross-sectional studies have proposed CMV infection as a significant driver of inflammaging, but a definitive case for CMV as a causative agent in inflammaging has not yet been made. We studied longitudinally 249 subjects (153 men, 96 women) who participated in the Hertfordshire Ageing Study at baseline (1993/5, mean age 67·5 years) and at 10 year follow-up. At both times, anthropometric measurements were made and subjects provided blood samples for analysis of inflammatory status and CMV seropositivity. In the cohort as a whole, serum CRP (P 

Keywords
aging; cytokines; inflammation

Journal
Aging Cell: Volume 11, Issue 5

People

Professor Anna Whittaker

Professor of Behavioural Medicine, Sport