Montgomery · Journal of leukocyte biology 2015 · narrative review · n=?

Paradoxical changes in innate immunity in aging: recent progress and new directions.

Cited 145 times in the scientific literature.

Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data

Narrative review without systematic search or meta-analytic methodology

PubMed 26188078 · doi:10.1189/jlb.5MR0315-104R · record verified 2026-08-30

What was done

This narrative review synthesizes research on immunosenescence, focusing on age-related dysregulation across innate immune cell types, activation states, and tissue contexts, alongside adaptive immune changes.

What was found

The abstract reports no numerical values or quantitative metrics. It qualitatively describes patterns of immunosenescence, including a shift toward antigen-experienced B and T cells at the expense of naïve populations, generally dampened innate immune responses, and paradoxical elevations in specific signaling pathways and cytokine levels.

Why it matters

It emphasizes the dual nature of age-related immune dysfunction—simultaneous suppression and inappropriate activation—to help direct future mechanistic research in human aging.

Limits

This is a non-systematic narrative review providing no new primary data, sample sizes, or quantitative meta-analytic pooling. Specific cell types, signaling cascades, and study populations are not detailed in the abstract.

Cited by