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Review|Volume 12, Issue 18|pp 18778—18789

SARS-CoV-2, immunosenescence and inflammaging: partners in the COVID-19 crime

Renato Domingues1, Alice Lippi1,2, Cristian Setz1,5, Tiago F. Outeiro1,3,4, Anita Krisko1
  • 1Department of Experimental Neurodegeneration, Center for Biostructural Imaging of Neurodegeneration, University Medical Center Goettingen, Goettingen, Germany
  • 2Center of Excellence for Science and Technology-Integration of Mediterranean Region (STIM), Faculty of Science, University of Split, Split, Croatia
  • 3Max Planck Institute for Experimental Medicine, Goettingen, Germany
  • 4Translational and Clinical Research Institute, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Newcastle University, Framlington Place, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK
  • 5Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, University Medical Center Goettingen, Goettingen, Germany
Received: June 6, 2020Accepted: August 11, 2020Published: September 29, 2020
https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.103989

Copyright: © 2020 Domingues et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Abstract

Pneumonia outbreak in the city of Wuhan, China, prompted the finding of a novel strain of severe acute respiratory syndrome virus (SARS-CoV-2). Here, we discuss potential long-term consequences of SARS-CoV-2 infection, and its possibility to cause permanent damage to the immune system and the central nervous system. Advanced chronological age is one of the main risk factors for the adverse outcomes of COVID-19, presumably due to immunosenescence and chronic low-grade inflammation, both characteristic of the elderly. The combination of viral infection and chronic inflammation in advanced chronological age might cause multiple detrimental unforeseen consequences for the predisposition and severity of neurodegenerative diseases and needs to be considered so that we can be prepared to deal with future outcomes of the ongoing pandemic.