Hindawi Journal of Immunology Research Volume 2017, Article ID 4807853, 17 pages https://doi.org/10.1155/2017/4807853 Review Article Interleukin-7 and Immunosenescence Vanloan Nguyen, Andrew Mendelsohn, and James W. Larrick Panorama Research Institute, 1230 Bordeaux Drive, Sunnyvale, CA 94089, USA Correspondence should be addressed to Vanloan Nguyen;
[email protected] Received 6 December 2016; Revised 1 February 2017; Accepted 19 February 2017; Published 6 April 2017 Academic Editor: Alessandra Santos Copyright © 2017 Vanloan Nguyen et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The age of an individual is an important, independent risk factor for many of the most common diseases afflicting modern societies. Interleukin-7 (IL-7) plays a central, critical role in the homeostasis of the immune system. Recent studies support a critical role for IL-7 in the maintenance of a vigorous healthspan. We describe the role of IL-7 and its receptor in immunosenescence, the aging of the immune system. An understanding of the role that IL-7 plays in aging may permit parsimonious preventative or therapeutic solutions for diverse conditions. Perhaps IL-7 might be used to “tune” the immune system to optimize human healthspan and longevity. 1. Introduction To understand the IL-7 network, we begin with a descrip- tion of IL-7, the IL-7 receptor, and downstream signal trans- One’s chronological age is an important, independent risk duction. We document how aging affects various parts of factor for many of the most common diseases afflicting the the immune system, B cells, T cells, and so forth, in an effort aging population of the world.