New biomarkers and therapeutic strategies in immunosenescence and Alzheimer's disease-associated immunosenescence

General objectives: The significant improvement of health in the general population, with particular reference to the elderly, thus leading to the improvement of the quality of life, with the reduction of the costs required for medical services, through the development of advanced procedures of prevention and therapy, with increased efficiency for the specific dysfunctions that appear in old age. Another overarching goal is to advance the current state of knowledge regarding immunosenescence and immunosenescence associated with Alzheimer's disease. 

Specific objectives: (1) Defining the status of immunosenescence by introducing new cellular biomarkers with specificity for this process; (2) Characterization of the proliferative potential, the degree of apoptosis and the ability to generate reactive oxygen species of the T-lymphocyte subpopulation defined by the new cellular biomarkers; (3) Defining the imnosenescence status by introducing new serological markers; (4) Defining immunosenescence associated with Alzheimer's disease in clinically diagnosed dementia and in prodromal stages (predementia) by introducing new biomarkers specific to this pathology; (5) Exploring new immunomodulatory therapeutic strategies in immunosenescence and Alzheimer's disease-associated immunosenescence. 

Immunosenescence is defined as the progressive alteration in morphological and functional appearance that occurs in the immune system during the aging process. 

The expected impact of this project is related to the significant development of the level of knowledge in this field, regarding the mechanisms and manifestations of immunosenescence and immunosenescence associated with Alzheimer's disease. The applied research directions of this project are directed towards diagnostic and therapeutic strategies, the end result of this project being a set of new diagnostic and therapeutic recommendations for these conditions.  

• Method for identifying telomere length by flow cytometry (Fig. 1 and Fig. 2)
• Flow cytometric analysis method of lymphocyte subpopulations in the peripheral blood of control subjects and patients with Alzheimer's disease (Fig. 3 and Fig. 4)
• Protocol for inhibition of hTERT telomerase activity with siRNA
• Protocol for identification by gene sequencing of inhibition with hTERT
• Gene sequence identification method by hTERT and hTERC sequencing (Fig. 5)

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